Making a Solar Car
Materials:
- 5 water cap bottles (large size)
- 1 small motor with pulley
- 2 solar cells with wires
- 1 wire hanger
- 1 clear plastic straw
- 1 piece of thick plywood (2 ½ inch width, 7 inch length)
- Screw driver
- Pencil
- Scissors
- Glue gun
- Pliers
- Drill
Instructions:
1. Drill small holes in the center of four of the caps. Make sure that the holes are large enough for the wire of the wire hanger to pass through.
2. Use the scissors to remove the flat part of the 5th cap. You should be left with the rounded part of the cap with grooves and a flat piece that still has part of the grooved inner wall. Drill a hole into the middle of this flat piece as well. (*Note: Imagine you have a plastic cap with the Coca Cola symbol on it, what you are doing is separating the flat Coca Cola symbol part of the cap from the part of the cap that screws onto the Coke bottle.)
3. AXLE: Attach the flat piece to the flat end of one of your caps with some glue. Make sure that a groove is created between the flat piece and the cap. Check to make sure that the holes drilled into the bottle cap and into the flat piece are aligned. Some can choose to stick these two pieces together first before drilling the holes to make sure they line up. (*Note: Using the Coke example, if you have 2 coke caps and have separated the flat part from one of them as mentioned in #2, then you must glue together the Coke symbol on one cap onto the Coke of the flat piece you separated in #2.)
4. Cut your clear straw into 4 equal parts. Cut your metal wire (from the hanger) into two 4 inch sections. Put two pieces of clear straw through each of the metal wires.
5. WHEELS: Attach the caps to the metal wires by pushing the wires through the holes on the caps. You should have one cap on either side of each wire. Seal this with glue. The caps should be attached to the wires with the open part facing outwards. Make sure that the wire goes through the cap, but keep the cap at the end of the wire. You should have two metal wires with caps on each end (one cap having the flat piece attached to it) and one piece of clear plastic straw on each side of each of the wires.
6. Take your piece of wood and position the wires at half an inch from the width ends of the rectangle. The wheels should stick out by about half an inch on the sides which measures length.
7. Bring your clear plastic straw to either end of the wire connecting the wheels. Attach the plastic straw to the piece of wood. This means that though the wire is attached to the wood through the straw, it is still free to move within the straw, which means it is free to rotate.
8. Connect the motor to the piece of wood. Use the pulley and elastic band that comes with the motor and wrap it around the groove on one of the wheels. This is the groove you created by attaching the flat section of the cap to another full cap. (See # 3) Make sure the band pulls slightly tight, so that when the motor runs it will turn the band which in turn will turn the wheels. Secure the motor in place with some glue.
9. Connect the solar cells together. The positive end of one cell should go to the negative end of the other.
10. Attach the solar panels to the motor with the wires provided then mount the solar panels onto the wood.
11. Place your car out in the sun and watch it go!
Next Article: Decomposing & Recycling
