On Friday, November 5, the team that went to the 1999 AIChE Annual Meeting in Dallas with their chemically powered car shared the experience with the Chemical Engineering majors at the pizza seminar.  It was interesting to hear the problems and frustrations that the team shared along the way and how they overcame these difficulties with their shared knowledge and intuitions.  The car, which was made of a plexi-glass base, a pulley system to turn the wheels, and a fuel cell powered by the reaction of aluminum and sodium hydroxide, won second prize at the competition.

    The main problem that the team experienced was controlling the reaction so that they could accomplish the goal of landing the car after it had gone exactly 75 feet.  They wanted the reaction to be steady and predictable.  In order to achieve this, they had to take into account how long it would take to fill all the active sites on the fuel cell, how much aluminum and what shape the aluminum pellets would be to react for the specified amount of time, and how to design a switch to turn on the reaction.  The team worked for months to solve these obstacles, and their hard work paid off when they came within 12 inches of the target to win a second-place trophy.

    Working through these problems, designing the car, and being able to fly down to Dallas was an exciting and fulfilling experience.  The team is now looking for underclassmen to join and take the place of the graduating seniors to go to the competition next year, where they are sure they will win first prize.  They are going to continue to work out the existing bugs in the system until it is running flawlessly.  Wish them luck as they proceed to perfect the project!!!
 

Submitted by:

Alissa Tibesar
Class of 2003
November 14, 1999