Balloon Cars – Deakin University

BALLOON POWERED CAR

Teacher Notes

Overview
Subject: Science and Technology

Grade: Years 7 – 9

Topics: Interaction between materials and energy and understanding resistance and
propulsion.

Curriculum:
Science Inquiry Skills
• Identify questions, problems and claims that can be investigated scientifically and
make predictions based on scientific knowledge (VCSIS107)

Recording and processing

• Construct and use a range of representations including graphs, keys and models to
record and summarise data from students’ own investigations and secondary
sources, and to represent and analyse patterns and relationships (VCSIS110)

Analysing and evaluating

• Use scientific knowledge and findings from investigations to identify relationships,
evaluate claims and draw conclusions (VCSIS111)

Objectives
1. Construct a car propelled by balloons that can travel 2m distance and above
2. Gain an understanding of types of energy, energy loss, friction and use that to
improve the car
3. Construct a range of representations, including tables and graphs, to display data
and analyse patterns or relationships
4. Summarise and draw conclusions based on data found throughout investigation
 Balloon Cars – Deakin University

Key Concepts
Energy. The capacity for doing work. It can exist in potential, kinetic, thermal, electrical,
chemical, nuclear, or other various forms. (Britannica)

Kinetic energy. The work needed to accelerate an object from rest to motion. An object that
has any motion, either vertical or horizontal, has kinetic energy. (Physics Classroom) For
example, As you release the car and the air expels from the balloon, this energy is converted
into kinetic energy, also known as the energy of motion.

Potential energy. The stored energy in an object due to its position relative to some zero
location. For example, the cars potential energy is the air inside the balloon and as the
balloon expands, more potential energy is created.

This propulsion method focuses on Newton’s Third law of motion. The law states that for
every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Which is similar to saying, if object A
exerts a force on object B, then object B also exerts an equal force on object A. In the case
of the balloon car, the action is the air rushing out of the balloon, pushing against the air
behind the car. The opposite or equal reaction is that the air behind the car pushing against
the car with the same force, causing the car to propel forwards.

Additional Resources
https://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/balloon-powered-race-car/

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project-
ideas/Phys_p099/physics/balloon-powered-car-challenge#summary

How the car works and different tests: https://video.deakin.edu.au/media/t/1_impfjgjt

Creating the Balloon Model car: https://video.deakin.edu.au/media/t/1_qcljcgdg

Materials
Milk carton or water bottle
Drinking straws
Bamboo skewers
Light toy truck wheels or plastic screw tops from milk bottles
Balloons

Tools
Ruler/Measuring tape
Scissors
Craft knife or blade
Hot glue gun with glue
Sticky tape
Safety glasses
 Balloon Cars – Deakin University

Risk management
The main hazards are the hot glue gun and craft knife. The hot glue gun does get very hot at
the tip of the gun and can cause minor burns. These need to be monitored and students
must be warned of safety instructions prior.

While cutting the skewers with either scissors or a scalpel, sections can fly off unexpectedly.
Students should wear safety glasses/goggles so as to protect themselves from anything
getting in their eyes.

Activity
Students follow the directions in CONSTRUCTING A BALLOON POWERED CAR resource. Once
the car has been completed to the students liking and works successfully, students will
make specific alterations to different parts of the car. These can include but are not limited
to, adding and distributing weights, altering the friction of the wheels and changing balloon
types or creating more resistance of air travelling out of the balloon.
Students will measure the distance travelled by the car and the time taken for each
variation in a table.

Expected Results
The original car design will travel only about 1-2m. Once the car is modified and the milk
carton cut open, the car will travel slower, but further. Adding weights to the car will add
some distance, especially if added towards the front of the car. However, if too much
weight is added the car will slow down too much. After using different sorts of balloons, it
was found that round balloons worked better than long, skinny balloons due to the ability to
blow them up to a greater capacity.

Difficulties
Having little gap between the wheels and straw is important. A large gap will make the
wheel’s wobble, causing the car to veer left or right and overall reducing the distance
travelled. With no gap the straw will impede the wheels turning.

Having a bit of resistance has been found to stop the car from travelling fast but allows it to
travel further, however getting the hole for the balloon to be a good size can be difficult.

Copyright and Creative Commons

The moral rights of the authors Rachael Bechet, Michael Horavtinovic, Chris Balthazaar, Tara
Flaherty (as part of the Community Science Project unit with the Faculty of Science – 2018) with
support from Peta White and Maria Vamvakas, have been asserted under the Australian Copyright
Act 1968 (Cth). Excepting logos, trademarks or other third-party content as indicated, this resource
is distributed under a Creative Commons ‘Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike’ 4.0 International
License.