In groups of three, our task was to create a MagLev (Magnetic Levitation) car that is powered by a mousetrap! Your car had to have been strong enough to propel itself down a six foot track! In this project we learned about Magnetism, Magnetic Levitation, Forces, Friction, Kinetic and Potential energy , and accelerated motion!
During this project I learned so much about magnetism and friction! I learned this when we were messing with the wheel. Taking off the back 4 magnets under the car and adding weights inside the wheel., gave the wheel more friction and made it move faster and further on the ground. But the weights we used were metal and stuck to the magnets on the track. Not letting the wheel to turn. On our first design we used a propeller. We were working for 2 weeks trying to make the propeller strong enough to push our car down the track. We also really struggled with how narrow our car was. We took advise from one of our peers and attached tall walls on the MagLev, which made it very difficult to set our mouse trap without breaking it the walls off. I also realized after the final test of our project that maybe the walls made the car too heavy to be pushed down the track. I didn't have any issues with my group members. Which is a really good thing. At the beginning it was difficult to split up the work and we kind of left someone out. But we worked on that and by the next few days or so, we were all working as a team. The way we overcame that was just by acknowledging that we were leaving that person out and every day just reminding our self to make sure we were all involved.
What I think I did really well in that project was taking that leadership role and making sure work was getting done. When I heard of a good idea, I made it happen. I gave each person a specific job and if it was needed, I took things home and worked on them on my own time. But I can't say I was working well the entire time. I'm a really bad control freak, as I mentioned in my blog and I think sometimes I come off as bossy. I like to make sure things are getting done in the way that I want them to be. I mean well, trust me I do. Which is something I would like to work on in the future. During the next projects, I would like to take a step back and let someone else take over and take the lead.
Here is a link to my final video of my car. ~ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkc-vgtJTRg&feature=youtu.be