Solar Flare

Event Year: 2023
Event Location: Orange County STEM Saturday
Competition: Junior Solar Sprint
Division: 3-5
School: Zellwood Elementary
Team Name: Solar Flares
Project Name: Yes
Team Size: 4

Zellwood Elementary

Luke. D 5th Grade

Kevin. C 5th Grade

Owen. P 5th Grade

Dalila. B 5th Grade

Date	Task	Time spent on task	Team members present	Obstacles encountered	Modifications to car design
8/29/2023	Put into groups	1.5 hours	Owen P. Kevin C. Luke D.	Zero	Working on car design
9/5/2023	Started our solar car	1.5 hours	Kevin C. Owen P. Dalila B. Luke D.	Wrong measurements hade to get a new board	Smoothing out are solar car
9/12/2023	Made measurements and read rules	1.5 hours	Kevin C. Owen P. Dalila B.	Zero	Drawling are design
9/19/2023	Made more measurements and started to build car and sand it	1.5 hours	Kevin C. Dalila B.	Zero	Had to smooth out the car because we got new board
9/26/2023	We put on nylon spacers and inserted axle	1.5 hours	Luke D. Kevin C. Owen P.	The axle came off	Fixed the axle
10/3/2023	We glued on our first pair of tires	1.5 hours	Kevin C. Owen P. Dalila B.	Zero	Glued are tires
10/10/2023	We glued on motor and worked on the website	1.5 hours	Kevin C. Owen P. Dalila B. Luke D.	Zero	Glued the motor
10/17/2023	We worked on the website	1.5 hours	Kevin C. Owen P. Luke D.	zero	Worked on the website
10/24/2023	Tried testing are wheels	1.5 hours	Kevin C. Owen P. Luke D. Dalila B.	Wheels broke off	Worked on the website
11/7/2023	Glued on the straws and worked on the website	1.5 hours	Luke D. Dalila B. Owen P.	Zero	Cut straws in half and put in on the car to hold the solar panel
11/14/2023	Glued the wheels that fell off and worked on the website. We glued the tiers on the solar car	1.5 hours	Owen P. Kevin C. Dalila B. Luke D.	straws broke and had to glue them back on	Fixed the wheels that broke off by using hot glue
11/21/2023	Put the straws in the front	1.5 hours	Luke D. Owen P. Kevin C.	zero	We put three 5.5 straws in the front of the solar car
11/28/2023	Glued straws on the car frame, added the solar panel and added the guide clip.	1.5 hours	Luke D. Owen P. Kevin C.	2 of the straws broke	Zero
11/30/2023	Completed time trial	.5 hours	Luke D.	broke the gator clip	added a new gator clip
12/01/23	Completed time trials Made video	.5	Luke D. Owen P. Kevin P.	Car would not stay on the fishing line, gator clip keeps sliding off	Need to add a different gator clip add another guide eye to help keep it on the line

Time Trials

Date 11/29/2023 – battery pack	Time – 50 ft
Trial 1	50/4.00 seconds = 12.5 ft/sec
Trial 2	50/3.38 seconds = 14.79 ft/sec
Trial 3	50/3.50 seconds = 14.28 ft/sec

Date 12/01/23 Solar Panel – Sunny	Time – Distance 50 ft
Trial 1	7.00 seconds
Trial 2	6.34 seconds
Trial 3	7.23 seconds

Date 11/30/23 Solar Panel – Sunny	Time – Distance 50 ft
Trial 1	6.11 seconds
Trial 2	didn’t work
Trial 3	didn’t work

Finished Car Specifications

Car length = 26.5 cm

Car width = 10 cm

Car weight = 210 gm

Wheel size = 56×26

Gear ratio = gear D – 60 tooth 1/8″ bore

Components

1 Pitsco Ray Catcher Sprint Deluxe Solar Kit = Free – our teacher went to a workshop

2 Big wheels = donation from teacher’s son Lego kit = $10.00/8 pieces = $ 1.25 each (Amazon price)

Red Straws = free from Chick-Fil- A

1 Plastic Cup = $25.00/500 = $.05

Wheel Traction Bands = Free from broccoli from the grocery store

Gator Clips = $8.00/100=$0.08 (2)