Wind Racers Sail

Aim: To build the fastest wind racer out of the supplied materials.

Equipment:
trolley, cardboard, tape, paper, string, metal rod, and scissors

Research:

Remember:
An object in motions stays in motion unless acted upon by an outside force
Every action has an equal and opposite reaction

Physics of Sailing

• Apparent Wind-the wind you feel on your face as you move forward

• True wind is the wind blowing naturally

If you were to ride your bike on a day when there is was a 5 mi/hr behind you and you were pedalling at 5 mi/hr, the two winds would cancel each other and you wouldn't feel any wind at all.

There is a positive force against the inside of the sail, and the negative force pulling the outside of the sail.

The air moving across the sails, like air moving across an aeroplane wing, creates a force called the lift. A small amount of this force aims aft and actually pushes the boat forward and some of the force is lost due to friction as it moves over the sail.




Watch this interesting video that will blow your mind!!


Method:

(our design)

1. Measure the parts of your trolley and draw the body parts/design of your vehicle on a piece of cardboard. Make sure that it matches correctly.

2. Cut it out using scissors. You can use a cutter, it will make your life easier.

3.  Cut out 2 pieces of triangle sails, make it big enough for your trolley. Design it first beforehand (only if you want to).

4. Attach the sail to the trolley. Make the sail slightly curved, not straight, so that it will be easier for the wind to act forcefully on its surface. The angle of the sail should be 70-80 degrees.

5. Secure the parts with tape if necessary.

Results:

Our wind racer came pretty well at racing, ours is the last wind racer standing, the rest of the groups' wind racers fell so we have this an achievement tho we didn't come first.

Our DU30 vessel had a distance of 5 metres with the time of 12 seconds (remember that these are my estimated calculations of distance and time). It starts to decelerate after 9 seconds without the wind blower. Therefore, this wind racer has a speed of 0.41 m/s-1.