
Spring Resistance and RC Car Speed
Medium
Does the stiffness of a car's springs change how fast it handles a course? You swap high, medium, and low resistance springs into an RC car. Then you time the car over two 10-meter courses lined with soda cans.
One course is a straight line. The other has sharp corners and turns. You run each spring five times on each course and average the results.
Stiffer springs make the car faster on straight lines. Softer springs give better speed through tight corners.
Hypothesis
The hypothesis is that a firmer spring will increase the speed of a radio controlled car.
Method & Materials
You will set up two courses, one straight line and one with corners and turns. You will install the RC car with different springs and measure the time taken to complete the 10 meter course.
You will need an RC car, a high resistance spring, a medium resistance spring, a low resistance spring, a spare battery, 80 empty soda cans or bottles, a piece of chalk, a measuring tape, a string (10 meters long), a stop watch, and an unused car park area.
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See what’s includedResults
The results showed that the springs with large and medium resistance increased the speed of the RC car for the straight line course. However, for the course with the corners and turns, the speed of the RC car was observed to be the fastest when it was set up with springs that had the lowest resistance.
Why do this project?
This science project is interesting because it shows how changing the spring resistance can affect the speed of a radio controlled car.
Also Consider
Consider repeating this science fair project by using a different model of RC car such as the Kyosho brand cars. You could also repeat the experiment by changing other accessories in the car such as the type of tires used.
Full project details
Additional information and source material for this project are available below.Related videos
These videos explain the science behind this project and demonstrate key concepts used in the experiment.
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