An easy science experiment/ craft project for anyone to enjoy.

The ingredients are:

A long thin twig that can fit inside of a straw (about 6-8 inches long)
2 straws
4 water bottle tops that are easily pierced
A toothpaste box, a soap box, or a water bottle
1 Balloon
Plenty of strong tape

Step 1: Ingredients

You will need:
- A body base which can be any kind of small box such as a soap box, toothpaste box, or a 20oz. bottle
- Four water bottle caps that can be easily pierced
- Two skinny sticks that can fit through a straw
- Two straws
- One large balloon

Step 2: Create the Axles

Creating the axles consists of the straws, bottle caps, and the sticks.

Step 1: Cut two sticks to about 3 inches long
Step 2: Cut two straws to about 2 inches long
Step 3: Use scissors to cut a small slit in each of the four bottle caps
Step 4: Push a stick through ONE of the bottle cap's slit so that about 1/2 in. is sticking out on one side and 3.5 inches are sticking out on the other side
Step 5: Before sticking another bottle cap on the other side of the twig, put the straw on the longer part of the stick and then finish it off with the other bottle cap about one half of the other end of the stick.
Step 6: To finish off the axle put a bit of tape attaching the bottle cap to the stick but not the straw. You will notice that you can hold onto the straw and rotate the rest of the axle.
Step 7: Repeat steps 4-6 so that two axles are made for the soon to be balloon car

Step 3: Finishing Touches

Almost doneeee! :D

Attaching the base to the axles:
Step 1: About 1/3 of the way into the base that you have chosen (toothpaste box in this case) tape ONLY the straw to the bottom of the base.
Step 2: Attach the other axle 1/3 of the way from the other end of the base.
Step 3: Consider aerodynamics when you choose which side of the base will be the front and back.

Attaching the accelerator:
Step 1: Stick about an inch of a straw into the balloon and tape the balloon onto the straw. Try not to tape too much of the balloon but make sure that it is stabilized onto the straw well. Make sure that the balloon is NOT like the one in the picture and hanging off of the edge of the base. This will cause the balloon to drag on the floor and restrict its movement.
Step 2: Next tape the part of the straw that is closest to the balloon onto the top of the base. The top of the base is the side that is the opposite of the one with the axles on it.

Step 4: Ready to GO!!!

Now your car is ready to be driven!! Blow air into the straw that is attached to the balloon so that the balloon fills up with air. Place it on a flat surface and watch it go!!!

14 Comments

Ms_Scruggs

3 years ago

In my 4 class periods that I teach STEAM Foundations, all of my students enjoyed this project and were very engaged the entire time. We were able to test our balloon cars in the cafeteria and administration even came by and enjoyed watching the students test and race their balloon cars.

testing.mp4

Balloon Powered Car.docx

velaine_bonebright

The students loved working with this idea so much that it only took a couple of sessions to complete the construction and enjoy racing their Balloon Cars. One student was very generous and collected milk bottle lids from our school cafeteria, washed them clean and shared them with students who were unable to bring in their own wheels. Upcycling materials was a huge success as evidenced by students who brought in older, scratched CDs, or cut out their own wheels from cardboard. Our post-race discussions led us to compare different sized balloons, and as well, we came to a better understanding of the wheel and axle simple machine. This Instructable was well worth the time and energy it required. Students were totally engaged, open to discussion, and completed a writing page describing how they created, analyzed, and adjusted their cars to get the maximum distance during the final race.