Pinewood Derby Race in Junior Physics!

Recently, in Dr. Des Flynn's ('97) junior Physics class, students worked in pairs to build miniature pinewood derby cars! Each team used their knowledge of Physics principles to build a car that could win a race against another team's car. "This project is a fun, hands-on physics lesson that demonstrates scientific principles such as kinetic and potential energy, velocity, acceleration, and minimizing friction," said Dr. Flynn.

Katherine Sit '26 and Deborah Murphy '26 were the first student team to present. They walked their classmates through their research, including how physics principles informed the design of their car, "The Bee Mobile." Katherine explained that their priority was functionality rather than overcomplicating their design with too many features. They first focused on center of mass and weight of their car, ensuring that it was as close to five ounces as possible to be a viable race winner. Their wheels were designed by incorporating bended axles and by cutting pieces of coffee stirrers between the wheels and the sides of the car to prevent the wheels from hitting against the car. The front right wheel was situated to be slightly off the ground to reduce friction. A two ounce weight was added to the back of the car to improve center of mass and maximize the weight of the car.

Katherine and Deborah also discussed how potential energy would become motion as their car goes downhill on the track, how maximizing mass would help the car go faster by increasing acceleration, and why their decision to have one wheel raised off the track would help their car to go faster and stay straight because of less friction and fewer bumps.

Katherine, Deborah and all the students in Dr. Flynn's class did a great job with this project, applying their knowledge of physics principles to build efficient, data-driven pinewood derby cars that successfully made it to the end of the miniature track. Congratulations to all the race winners!