Balloon Powered Race Car Guidelines 

Objectives:
● I will be able to demonstrate and model ​Newton’s 3 Laws of Motion​ by building
and racing a balloon powered race car.
● I will be able to measure the​ distance and time my car travels ​to calculate its
speed.

What materials will I need?

You can create and build your car using basic household materials like:
● Balloons
● pen barrel, ​water bottle​/juice bottle, empty small containers
● Straws​, skewers, popsicle sticks, toothpicks
● bottle caps, CD’s
● Cardboard, ​construction paper
● You can purchase other items if you’d like (glitter, paint, stickers etc.)

What are the rules?

● The car must be powered by ​1-2 balloons​.
● It must have ​at least three wheels.​ Wheels are defined as anything that is round
and goes around but the ​wheels cannot be wheels​ from a​ toy car​. ​They must be
made out of something that was not originally meant to be used as wheels (you can
use CD’s, bottle caps etc.)
● The car may​ not leave the ground​, it’s not an airplane.
● The car must be capable of traveling at least ​1 yard (36 inches).
● You may work by yourself or with ​one or two additional partners​ from this class. If you work
with a partner, the car must be constructed by​ all group members​ and the members must all
be i​n the same cohort.
● Each member must bring ​AT LEAST TWO materials/supplies ​(if working in a
group)​.

What are the next steps?

1. You will bring in materials from home and assemble your first model car in class on
Thursday 9/14/18
● YOU and your group members​ ARE RESPONSIBLE TO BRING IN ALL
MATERIALS, INCLUDING BALLOONS AND ANYTHING ELSE TO CONSTRUCT
THE VEHICLE.
2. You will be testing your model car and finding a way to make it move
3. Winning categories for the final model car:
a. Fastest ​Car
b. Farthest​ Distance​ Traveled
c. Most​ Creative​ Car
Final Car and Brochure is due on: ​Friday September 28th
 Balloon Powered Race Car Rubric 
Category 4 Exceeds 3 Meets Expectation 2 Nearly Meets 1 Does Not Meet
Expectation Expectation Expectations
Construct The ​right materials The right materials The car did not follow The car did not follow the
ion and were selected ​and were selected and the materials guidelines materials guidelines and is
Materials creatively modified there was an ​attempt and is ​missing one​ of the missing two or more​ of the
in ways that made the at creative following items: following items:
car even better. modification to make
them even better. the car does not have at the car does not have at least
The car has at least 3 least 3 wheels, the car 3 wheels, the car has more
wheels, no more than The car has at least 3 has more than 2 balloons, than 2 balloons, and/or the
2 balloons, and the wheels, no more than and/or the tires used were tires used were originally
tires used are not 2 balloons, and the originally intended to be intended to be tires.
originally intended to tires used are not tires.
be tires. originally intended to
be tires.

Function Your car functions Your car functions Your car functions pretty Your car has fatal flaws in
extraordinarily well, well, travels at ​least 1 well, ​but moves very function and ​does not move
travels ​more than 1 yard. little. at all.
yard.

Modificati
on/Testin
g
Very Creative= Clear Somewhat creative= Little creativity = Some No Creativity = Little
evidence of working Clear evidence of evidence of evidence of troubleshooting,
on the car, testing it, working on car, troubleshooting, testing testing or refinement.
and making changes testing and and refinements on the
based on first car refinements. car. Looks like there was ​little
model. time spent on the car
You spent ​several It is evident you spent You spent some time (worked on right before
hours​ working on car. more than an​ hour working on car. class).
working on car.

Helpful Links:
http://pbskids.org/zoom/freeloads/ballooncar.html
http://www.kyrene.k12.az.us/schools/Pueblo/Tech/balloon_car.htm
http://www.alaska.faa.gov/flt_std/aved/teachers/Rcar.html
http://library.thinkquest.org/50109/projects/bcars.html
http://www.eecs.umich.edu/mathscience/funexperiments/agesubject/lessons/other/rocket_car.html