As an end of the year assignment,  physics teacher Jeremy Rupeka’s students  designed cars that rolled down ramps competing for the longest distance. This project challenging, according to some students, and it also involved a lot of time and effort. Not only was structure key to this assignment, but time, effort, liability and weight distribution worked towards allowing these cars to travel farther distances. Students were given a month to work on their cars, and presented their final projects on Wednesday, March 16. 

With the use of common objects from his bedroom, junior Michael Riccio was able to construct an aerodynamic car that went the distance. He used objects around his house to show that a car doesn’t need to be constructed of specific materials to do the job.

“I feel like this project was something that was so easy to overthink, but it was an easy project at the same time,” Riccio said. “Don’t get me wrong, finding the materials first of all wasn’t easy. My car was built out of an old dresser I had and some penny board wheels.  Once I had my materials set up, I was good to go. It took a few test runs to make sure everything was working, but I feel like overall the project was a nice way to wrap up our third marking period.”

While some physics classrooms opted to build a wooden bridge for their assignment, students in Rupeka’s classroom battled it out over who had the most successful homemade gravity car that traveled the furthest. 

“I feel like the ones that put the effort into the project were more successful than ones who threw it together at the last minute,” Rupeka said. “ The cars that went the farthest were ones that were done early and got brought in to be tested. Some of the cars went really fast, and there was one that I thought was actually going to break my ramp because it was so heavy. This project is something I look forward to every year, and it gives the kids an experience at the engineering design process where they are coming up with an idea to design, testing it and fixing any problems. Something I found exciting was seeing what the students came up with for ideas.”

Although some students were able to experience success in development in the construction and development of their vehicle, some faced challenges due to lack of available supplies and less time resulting from extracurricular schedules. 

“This project was fun, but it definitely challenged me to think outside the box,” junior Kasey Reid said. “I struggled with finding objects that could resemble the body of my car, and that should’ve been the easiest part. So finding wheels or items to make wheels out of was definitely challenging. It took many test runs to determine that my wheels were not lined up straight, causing it to slowly roll in circles. It’s one project out of the school year, so I was trying not to get too frustrated with it, but I was worried that I was never going to be able to fix it properly. Once I brought it into school to test run it down Mr. Rupeka’s ramp, I figured out what I could do to fix my problem so the next time I brought it to school it would work a little bit better. This project definitely involved many test runs and trials, and causes you to overthink a lot, but in the end it was really fun seeing everybody’s cars and how they turned out.”

Some students were successful with this assignment, and some even won for reaching the farthest distance of their class.

“Our car was made out of a piece of wood, with some wheels from a skateboard on the bottom,” junior Owen Balog said. “We attached a pole in the middle to help even out the weight distribution, so it wouldn’t keep leaning to one side when it rolled down the ramp. Our car was more heavy because my partner and I figured out that the heavier it was, the farther it would go. That’s why I think it was able to reach the end of the hallway and give us 100 percent. We brought it in a few days earlier than the actual due date to test it until we reached our desired design. I had a lot of fun working on this project for the past month, and I’m glad I got the chance to experience what it’s like to design and test experiments. It makes me excited to see what I’ll be able to do in the future.”

Students who found this project fun and enjoyable made some memories along the way and were able to learn something from it. 

“I’m always going to remember how I literally built a car out of my old dresser and ended up getting a pretty good grade on it,” Riccio said. “Honestly, I wasn’t expecting it to do so well, but I’m relieved that it’s one less project I have to worry about. Building it was fun, and thinking of ways I can equally distribute the weight above the wheels was interesting. I learned many new things about force and acceleration along the way, such as the more weight you add the faster your car will go.”

Others learned lessons from this project and will use them for situations they may face in life today. 

“Something I learned from this project was that you can’t give up easily, and you have to stay determined through it all,” junior Aydan Roland said. “As much as it would frustrate me constantly finding little errors and fixing them, my final result showed me that it was all worth it. I think I learned a major life lesson, about trying no matter how hard it might get. I’ve learned that determination really is key, and that if you put your mind to something you will be able to do it. It was difficult keeping this in mind sometimes, but once you have the right mindset, everything becomes easier. You don’t feel like you’re battling yourself as much and I’m just overall happy with my result.”