This activity demonstrates how wind can be used to propel an object. Students will build sails to catch the wind in order to move the Sail Car as far as possible. Experiment with the number, design, shape, and angle of sails to control the direction, speed, and distance of the Sail Car.
The Details
Materials
- 1 Sheet of card stock
- Wooden skewers
- Binder clip
- Straws
- Foam stickers
- 3in Wooden craft balls
- Prepared corrugated plastic sheets
- You can use any size and shape corrugated plastic sheet. You will need x ft2 of the plastic sheets (where x=the number of kids in the class). Based on the dimensions, you will need about 2ft2 for each team of 3 kids in the class, or half that much if kids will work in teams of 2. These will be used for the base of the sail car (see the illustration in Lesson Plan). Typically these are 8”x4” with a pointed tip but you could make them any size you like. Make sure the flutes are going across the car so you can insert the axles!
Next Generation Science Standards
Cross-Cutting Concepts
- Energy & Matter
Disciplinary Core Ideas
- ETS1.A Defining & Delimiting an Engineering Problem
- ETS1.B Developing Possible Solutions
- ETS1.C Optimizing the Design Solution
- PS3.A Definitions of Energy
- PS3.B Conservation of Energy & Energy Transfer
Learning Objectives
- Research, design and create a sail for a vehicle that will help it use wind to move as far as possible
- Use the engineering design process method to isolate and adjust variables to design a sail car that travels as far as possible
- Explain how sails transfer the kinetic energy of the wind into the kinetic energy of the car moving forward