Physics+Planetary+Explorers+Lab+Report

An example of the Planetary Explorer Lap Write Up by Savanah Hanna. This one got a four. Post your own if you got a four or five. :)

__**Introduction and Research:**__ In Mr. Casey's class, we have been learning about force and motion. We are making planetary explorers out of race cares. We will set up an obstacle course that is 12 meters long and goes around two pillars, we will use two timers to determine an accurate speed and see which planetary explorer is fastest.


 * __Hypothesis:__ **

The purpose of this experiment is to find out if our car can pass the courses. We our supposed to make a car that can pass them. For example: The crater climb, can your car make it? If I test my car in these courses, I believe my car will be capable. Then we plan on making the car that is not too heavy, and will last through all the challenges.


 * __Materials:__ **

1- Remote control car 2- Two timers 3- Obstacle courses 4- paper and pencil to record data

__** Procedures: **__

1- Set up course - total of 12 meters. 6 meters to first pillar - go around pillar and six meters back. 2- Place explorer on start line. 3- Place the first timer at middle of courses. 4- Place the second timer at finish line. 5- Both timers start when the car starts. 6- Timer number one stops when the car reaches half way around the course - at middle of the pillar. 7- Timer number two stops at the finish line. 8- Record results. 9- Determine average speed and record.

// (((an illustration showing the procedures should be here)))  //  

=Conclusion=  The purpose of this experiment was to show if our planetary explorer could drive around the pillar and back to the starting spot. Our car didn’t make it around due to the lack of a reverse button, so we only made it literally half way. My interpretation of the results is that our car would do better if it did indeed have a reverse button. It is also fairly large, so a decrease in size would be very helpful as well. Hopefully during future tests our car will be able to perform correctly. Or if possible maybe a new vehicle would help us excel further. Our experimental errors is that we used a car without a reverse button and that it was a bit too large and seemed a bit worn out. What went wrong was that once our car crashed into the wall it was fully incapable of turning around the pillar, once again – due to the lack of a reverse button. If we could do something differently it’d be a whole new car. Some further research would be in what kind of car would be most suitable. This data is connected to real life in that you should know what you’re dealing with before you waste time on experiments and think before you test. Before any product is released for public selling it is tested multiple times, with different courses, in our case our car wasn’t appropriate so our test was invalid. In a real selling product more experiments would be conducted until the car would make it around the pillar, and also maybe in a farther distance, adding more meters and going around more pillars; though since this is just a school project, no such scenario is going to take place. Throughout this experiment our group has learned that our hypothesis was a bit off, though not completely since we have yet to conduct more trials.