Help with physics project

[OnlyThorns]

So my teacher gave us a due date...October 25 and a summary of what we are to do.

 

Here is what we can do

 

1) Build a car from SCRATCH that will be only caused to move by the energy provided by dropping a 2kg mass {the mass must stay with the car}. no other source can contribute to the motion of the car. the evaluation will be based on distance traveled compared to your peer's.

 

or

 

2) Build a tower that is the lightest design but will hold a maximum of 15kg. the tower must be of wood and bonded by glue. you may use pieces of wood no larger than 1/4 inch by 1/4 inch in cross-section. if dowels are used their diameter may be no larger than 1/4 inch. wood may be of any length. unlimited lamintation by the student is allowed. the tower must be at least 50.0 cm tall and must support a square loading block which is 5.0 cm by 5.0 cm by 2.0 cm which also must be supported so that an eye ring and chain can fit down through the center of the tower without touching the tower. the portion of the tower that is above 15 cm from the testing platform must fit through 8.0cm diameter round hole.

 

um...ENGLISH please? urgh. Physics is gonna kill me:(

Does anyone have an instruction booklet? lol. does he really just expect me to be able to jump in this without some instruction or clue as to what is being asked?

um...hello. 1d and 2d motion is hard enough thank you

 

 

anyroad. if anyone knows what any of this gibberish means, help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

~onlythorns

[Tom Mattson]

um...ENGLISH please? urgh. Physics is gonna kill me:(

Does anyone have an instruction booklet? lol. does he really just expect me to be able to jump in this without some instruction or clue as to what is being asked?

 

What is so difficult about reading the problem statement? Are the terms "dowel" and "lamination" and "eye ring" really so technical as to make it impenetrable? These are things that the clerk at your local hardware store knows about.

 

The first option says that you have to build car whose sole source of energy is a 2kg mass. Obviously that statement is there to prevent you from strapping a 400 hp V8 to the back of the car and blowing away the competition.

 

The second option says that you have to build a tower with a block on top, and that the block has to support a load which hangs down the center of the tower. There are size constraints, which you can make sense of if you try to draw a picture from them, which should have been the first thing that you did. Have you tried that?