Help! Problem with my SOLAR CAR!!?
Question:
Our car is pretty fast when compared to those made by other groups, but the main problem is that it keeps tilting and turning all the time so it runs out of the track almost every time. The track we're supposed to run on is 1 foot wide and about 20 feet long.
Our car originally had only 3 wheels for higher speed, 2 at the back and 1 in the front. Then we found out that it's very unstable, sometimes running towards the right and sometimes left, running out of the track all the time. So we gave it 4 wheels instead, but now its speed has significantly reduced, and it's still very unstable. Now we don't know whether giving it 4 wheels instead of 3 is a right choice or not.
Help! What should we do!? Now we have 2 goals:
1) Make it run in a straight line, at least it wouldn't run out of the track again.
2) Make it even faster.
Answer:
Shift the center of mass lower to the ground. Also, try making the car flatter. Have as few points of contact to the ground as possible. (3 wheels). It is not the weight of the 4th wheel but the additional friction caused by another point of contact.
put two wheels in the front and the one in back. If the motor fulls the car instead of push it will go strieghter.
Messing with the one wheel to make it streight would be better too if possible.
The reason another wheel slows it down is it is more weight. If you have two axels this would not create any additional friction force by adding a 4th wheel. If you can't get the three wheels to work, just do what you can to make it lighter with 4.
If you want 3 wheels, maybe try putting two in front and one in back for stability?
More Questions & Answers...