Event Year: 2024 Event Location: Orange County STEM Saturday Competition: Junior Solar Sprint Division: 4-6 (JSS Green) School: Sally Ride Elementary Team Name: Smoothie II Project Name: Smoothie II Team Size: 6
Team members: Iyla O. (5th Grade), Darian R. (4th grade),Adrian O. (4th Grade), Anthony T. (4th Grade), Nicholas K. (5th grade), and Kaitlyn S. (5th Grade)
Smoothie is back! Our super-fast car competed last year with limited success. Our team has learned that speed is not the only important variable to consider when designing and building a solar car.
This time we are working on keeping the good things on the original Smoothie and correcting its lack of control.
Several reasons could affect the control of our first solar car and we are changing one at a time.
Observation
Action taken
Outcome
The straws in the front had an open ending letting the air enter them but there was no exit for the air inside the straw.
We closed the straw’s open endings in the front of the car.
No improvement was observed in the car’s control.
Observation
Action taken
Outcome
The guides in the car were excessive
We left only one guide hook in the front of the vehicle and eliminated the rest.
No improvement was observed in the car’s control.
Observation
Action taken
Outcome
The front and back axes weren’t completely aligned.
We started from scratch.
We are using parallel lines and a level, and putting it all together with maximum precision.
