How do you make a rubber band powered car, what materials do you use?
90118
http://www.serve.com/chunter/index/info/cars.html\n\nThis one has the best pictures
314204
Because of the weight of the sticks, you will probably need to split them into 1/4 or 1/8 widths, wet them and curve then for the wing shape (rounded on top), and then glue them in a framework. Use tissue paper. If you make a propeller, you could power it with a wound rubber band.\n\nConstructions such as this were made by aeronautic teenagers 50 years ago, but they usually used balsa wood.
117736
Materials needed:\n     1 lemon\n     1 paper clip\n     1 copper wire (18 guage works well)\n\nProcedure:\n     1.   Straighten out the wire of the paper clip.\n\n     2.   Cut a piece of copper wire roughly the same length\n          as the paper clip.  Remove the insulation.\n\n     3.   Push the paper clip and the copper wire into the \n  lemon.  Keep the wires as close together as you\n          can, but don't let them touch.\n\n     4.   The fruit battery is now ready for use.  If you\n          have a voltmeter you can test how many volts\n          the battery produces.  You can also taste the\n          two wires and feel a tingle in your tongue.\n          (Note: you should only do this for very low\n          voltages such as those given off by lemons.)\n\nHow it works:\nAcids, such as the citric acid in lemons, tend to produce chemical substances called ions. These ions either have too many electrons (negative) or not enough (positive) Metals tend to attact these ions. \n\nOne type of metal will attract the negative ions and the other will attract the positive ions. This causes the two metals to have different electrical charges and electricity will flow from one to the other whenever you attach the battery to something like a radio (or your tongue). \n\nIncidently, the flow of electricity will eventually neutralize the ions. When this happens the battery is dead. \nand also see:
330650
Engine blocks are built from mainly two kinds of materials. Cast iron and aluminum. Cast iron is much heavier, but incredibly durable. Aluminum is much lighter, but not as durable, and much more liable to crack and wear excessively, especially if overheated. So, most engine blocks are cast iron, although more and more aluminum blocks are being produced for production cars, where previously they were used mostly in racing. Cylinder heads are either cast iron or aluminum as well, but aluminum heads are becoming much more popular now days. Internal parts like valves, pistons, camshafts, rocker arms, pushrods, nuts, bolts, and crankshafts are generally cast iron or steel, however as new materials become available, some of these parts are built from things like titanium or other metals. Plastics and composite materials are becoming more prevalent for low-stress parts like valve covers, as new materials become available. Production cars are generally built with the most durable materials, because they are expected to last a lot longer. Race motors are built as light as possible, but are intended to be rebuilt or replaced frequently. Gaskets and seals are made of a variety of materials, from paper to rubber to neoprene, depending on how much flexibility is required and what chemicals they need to be resistant to. All the parts in an engine need to be extremely heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant, as engines run in excess of 250-300 degrees and parts are exposed to corrosive fluids, and some parts like exhaust systems get much hotter.
809942
Here is an idea.\nCompare power supplies by weight, volume and power density using various batteries.\n\nThere are many batteries on the market now, so it might be very educational for you and anyone looking at your project.\n\nConsider using the following batteries:\nLead acid battery\nLithium-ion battery\nLithium ion polymer battery\nNickel-cadmium battery\nNickel metal hydride battery\nMolten salt battery\nSilver-oxide battery\nWater-activated batteries used in radiosondes\n\nYou could compare different AA batteries of different types and costs.\n\nA good starting point for references on batteries is on Wikipedia:\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batteries\n\nYou might even be able to get a small prototype fuel cell if you ask to work with a battery manufacturer, a research company, or someone like NASA.\n\nYou should start thinking of what kind of a hypothesis you could write to kick of the experiment.  Hint: Don't worry if your experiment fails and you fail to prove your hypothesis. Sometimes the best experiments are failures!\n\nHope this helps!
805418
Here's a site with alot of different ideas and difficulty levels with instructions.  Maybe you can find something here.\n\nOr you can tell us more about what you are wanting to do and what you like and we might be more helpful on here.\n\nhttp://www.all-science-fair-projects.com/
199579
Consider the five basic machines, The lever and fulcrum, The inclined plain, The wheel and axle, The screw and the pulley.\n\nStart with a boyscout pine block racer kit, sand the wheels so that the tread is rounded rather than flat to reduce friction. for the undriven wheels put the nails in the wheels and deposit a liberal amount of petroleum based oil on the axle. This will cause the plastic to swell slightly for a good fit to the axles to prevent wobble, be sure to clean all the flash off of the nails first and polish them.\n\nThe driven wheels willneed a fixed axle that connects the wheels.
256145
you can attach a fan to the motor and then strap it on to the car. you can um attach something flexible to the motor, and put it on the car sideways, so that it pushes the car along. you can tie a string to the motor, and then run that string to its wheel and wrap it around the wheel (or the axle for the wheel) and then the string wraps around the motor. lotz of wayz. prob need more info though.
521443
Well, I don't know what your car looks like, so I don't know if I can help much, but here are a few tips I've learned from working in robotics.\n\nIf your car is working sometimes and completely dead other times, then it's probably not the batteries.  But just to be on the safe side,  get some batteries that you know are fresh, and use those.\n\nDo you have access to a multimeter?  It's generally a little hand-held device about the size of a brick with a couple of probes on it.  If you have one, you can use it to check the wires for disconnections anywhere.  Look for an icon that's sort of like this: >|  Only it will have a horizontal line going through it.  That function will test for continuity in your circuit.\n\nWith regards to mounting the motor, if the car came from a kit, it probably has instructions.  If not, it kind of depends on what kind of motor it is.  If it has screw holes, you can easily bolt it to the body of the car with a simple drill and a couple of screws.  If that's not an option, a hot glue gun will work fairly well.\n\nGood luck on your project.
150570
Weight   3,120+ lbs \n Height   5 feet \n Circumference    15.1 feet  \n Duration of project   5 years 2 months \n Cost of materials   approx. $25,000. \n Number of rubber bands   850,000
917846
Lots of variables here. Do you want one that will move with directional intent, or one that just floats?\n\nThe simplest method for making a "hovering" vehicle would be to take the vacuum engine, mount it onto a curved shield, with the curvature facing down. Make sure your shield is a very light material, balsa wood works, i suppose.\n\nIf you know where the vacuum's intake and output valves are, then it's easy. make sure you make a hole for the output, and secure the engine to the top of the shield. Turn on the engine, and watch the contraption float around aimlessly. It's basically how a air hockey table works, except in reverse.\n\nEDIT: one important detail. Are you trying to make a hover car strong enough to hold your weight? Because that would need one hell of an engine.
285919
You will need the following materials: \n\n• balloons \n• long wooden or metal skewers \n• petroleum jelly \n• a sharp pin \n• cellophane tape \n\nBlow up a balloon – not too full – and tie the opening shut. Dip the tip of a skewer in Vaseline and spread the Vaseline along the entire length of the skewer. If you are careful, you should be able to push the skewer all the way through the balloon without popping it. Insert the skewer with a gentle twisting motion into the end of the balloon opposite the knot. Continue pushing and twisting the skewer until the tip emerges from the other end, near the knot. Why doesn't the balloon pop? \n\nNow try to stick the skewer into the side of the balloon.What happens?\n\nThe rubber in the balloon consists of many long molecules that are linked together. It's similar to the way all of the noodles in a plate of spaghetti stick together. These long molecules are called polymers; when molecules of a polymer are chemically attached to each other, it is called cross-linking. These links hold the polymer molecules together and allow them to stretch…up to a point. When the force or tension pulling on the cross-links is too great, they will break, and the polymer will pull apart. \n\nLook at the rubber near the ends of the balloon where you first inserted the skewer. Does it look lighter or darker than the rubber in the rest of the balloon? \n\nThe rubber at the ends of the balloon is stretched out less than in the middle of the balloon. Therefore, there is less force pulling on it. This allows the tip of the skewer to break some polymer cross-links, push aside the molecules of rubber, and slide into the balloon. However, enough cross-links remain so that the balloon holds together.\n\n\nIn the side of the balloon, there are fewer polymer molecules. When you push the tip of the skewer through the rubber in the side of the balloon and the skewer breaks a few of the cross-links, the tension on the remaining cross-links is too great, and the balloon pops. \n\nDo you think there is a way to stick a sharp pin through the side of a balloon without popping it? \n\nPut a small piece of cellophane tape on the side of the balloon and press it down well. Now take the pin and press it through the tape and into the balloon. Does the balloon pop? \n\nThe tape sticks to the rubber in the balloon and will not allow the rubber to stretch to the breaking point when the pin pierces the balloon. In other words, the tape reinforces the cross links, and the balloon stays together.
626248
How about a caterpillar? Check the crafts dept. at Wal-mart. Use stryo balls for the body, just glue five or six together in a line,  which you'll need to paint of course, add pipe cleaners for legs, just use wire cutters to cut them in thirds and just stick them in and bend them down, then use the stick-on googley eyes that they sell, and add a colored piece of paper cut for the mouth, and two toothpicks painted black and stuck in his head for antenna. Easy, and uses 5 materials
328055
One current method, is called PEM, or proton exchange membrane fuel cells.  How it works:\n\nHydrogen (H2) molecules are split by way of an anode, into protons and electrons.  The membrane allows protons to pass through and blocks electrons.  This creates an electric potential,  as well as a direct current (DC) as collected electrons move around the membrane to the other side, to recombine with the H+ ions (protons) as well as O2 molecules, creating byproducts of water and heat.  This DC could ideally power anything from a light bulb to propelling an automobile if the electricity were converted to mechanical energy (like in the electric motor portion of a hybrid automobile).\n\nThe difficulty comes in getting the hydrogen.  While the byproduct of a hydrogen powered car is water and heat, which do not hurt the atmosphere, the creation of purified hydrogen, does require energy as well as gives off large amounts of CO2, a greenhouse gas.  Some work is being done into looking into renewable energy sources to power the purification process (wind power, solar power, nuclear power, etc) as well as methods of "burying" the produced CO2 underground, so that it is not released into the atmosphere.
537936
Use a shoe box.  Tape on some wheels and axles.  Put the balloons inside the box with the base of the balloons taped so all the air will go out the back.  When the air is released it will form a primitive rocket, propelling the box-car across the floor.\n\nI can't say this isn't rocket science, because technically, it is.
607885
steel drums\n\nhttp://www.toucans.net/Toc/makePan.html   (making one)
974284
I certainly hope you have visited the link below for visual and mathematical insights into this problem.\n\nHowever, the only materials that come to mind which lend themselves to a physical model of this transformation are:\n\n o thin-but-rigid springs or "lead" wire(s) as supports/frames\n o plastic wrap as a surface substrate\n o flexible, rubberized, quick-drying paint as a protective layer\n\nI regret that my imagination is limited with respect to this problem, but good luck with your project!