This seminar was presented to us by the students who have participated in the Chem E Car competition in the national AlChE conference that was held in November. They had to make a car that when broken down fit the size of a shoebox and run the car with a chemical reaction with a load on their car. The distance and the amount of the load they needed to carry were given an hour before the competition started and the group that went the closest to the finish line won. One of the groups from our University won third place in the competition, 19 inches away from the finish line. The team members are: Michael Fears, Bronson Duck, Sage Hiibel, Cathy Sue McMurray, Ivan Gantan, Francisco Vega, and Wyatt Robards.

There were three groups that presented the process they took to make the car, the reaction they used, mathematical way to measure how far the car will go, how to stop the car, and more. Two of the teams used baking soda and vinegar reaction and the third team used rocket-powered car. The team that used the rocket-powered car, named B.O.B, won in the competition. From their experience, they had limited number of rockets to use and therefore they had limited number of trials they could run.

The data and the poster they had were very impressive. To do some of the calculation to figure out the work it needed, friction with the wheel and the surface, when the car will stop, and how long the car will run was done with equations such as the Bernoulli’s equation and the Ideal Gas Law and more. Using the Ideal Gas Law for the gas that was formed after the reaction between baking soda and vinegar was not very ideal and gave really high pressure. The team member who used the Ideal Gas Law says that they would have probably gotten a better number if they hadn’t assumed the gas was ideal.

This presentation from the upper classmen was helpful to me as a freshman. Even though we have covered some of the mathematical aspect of their presentation, it was overwhelming to hear all the details of their work they done on their car. This was the last pizza seminar of this semester and through out the whole semesters I was very impressed with all the smart people I got to hear from. But this last seminar was the most insightful since it’s from the students in our University. I realize that even though it’s a hard major to get through, it is amazing how much I could learn.

Sul Jung

Class of 2005