CO2 Cars

by Andrew Hunt
 
Are you wondering what kids have been doing in Mr. Sweeney's room? Some kids in 7th grade have been building Co2 powered cars. What is a Co2 powered car and how long is the track? Well this article is talking all about Co2 cars. Joel, a 7th grader, said “[It was] very interesting [and] definitely fun.”

A Co2 powered car is a type of car that uses a Co2 cartridge that, with enough pressure, will launch. The cars are made with wood and the Co2 cartridge goes in a hole in the back of it. You are the one who designs your own car so if you haven't been in 7th grade yet you may want to start thinking, especially if you're in 6th grade.

The cars have two screws with loops in line on the bottom of the car which helps steer it. There's fishing wire that the cars have on the bottom of the screws and that makes the cars stay in control. The track is 65-70 feet long and the average car goes 20mph or more. The race track is in the gym and this race there are 30 cars and 95% of them will actually make it to the finish. The track has two lanes which have fishing lines to control the car to the finish.

Dillon, a 7th grader, said “It was fun and just fun to learn how to make CO2 cars.”
 
Some of the designs were really creative because one person made a rainbow that looked cool but kept getting disqualified by falling over. Some other creative designs were a skateboard ramp, swiss cheese, and a soda bottle.

And they're off! The Co2 cars were great. The fastest car was Mr. Sweeney's car and it traveled the whole distance in just a half a second! The fastest car made by a kid was Joel's car that went the whole distance in 57 hundredths of a second. The average speed for his car was 71.77Mph.
 
I asked Mr. Sweeney about why he does this project and he said “[It is] so kids can learn to use the machines, and to learn about materials. It is also to learn about aerodynamics, mass speed and drafting and it is also fun.”

The kids in 7th grade thought that the Co2 cars were really fun and it was a cool project.