Today we used what we learned yesterday about construction and friction in
our projects. "Spin the Ghost"
was a learning experience where the campers learned the use of
gears, pulleys, crown gears, and gear boxes. After doing some activities to
learn more about gears and pulleys, we put everything together with a motorized
vehicle. In today's second challenge, "Capacitor Derby"
the campers were given a capacitor that could be charged by a Lego motor as an
alternate form of energy. The vehicles the campers built used
the capacitor to power the electric motor. The capacitors store only a small
amount of power for our motor and they require no programming. Knowing this,
campers used gear and pulley arrangements to make their vehicles move by their
own power! We have a camp full of future engineers who
are learning skills that help explore topics such as force, friction, balance,
center of gravity, and counterweight. Tomorrow, we will begin using the
RCX to
power our single motor vehicles - just what campers have been waiting for!
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