Crumple Zone Crash Test Car

youmagine

This CO2-powered crash test car lets you design and iterate crumple zone bumpers to protect a passenger egg from injury. Use a CO2 car launcher, such as the Pitsco EZ-Start Gate or Kelvin's Hotshot Raceway A Co2 Dragster Launcher 1 Lane, wheels from a Lego Technic motorcycle, and create a flat wall for the car to crash into by placing a board against paint cans. The car is guided by monofilament, and a wooden wall placed 50' from the launcher will allow a 12-gram CO2 cartridge to shoot the car fast enough to break an egg without a well-designed crumple zone. Capture and analyze the destruction using a slo-motion camera app, as seen in my 2-minute video "CO2-Powered Eggmobile" on YouTube. My students copied and tinkered with "Bumper Posts" in Tinkercad, creating their own consistent and correct connections to the car while inventing their own crumple zones.