Etta’s Hot Wheels surface challenge

Etta tested how far her Hot Wheels car would travel on different surfaces. We experimented with carpet, a rug and the kitchen floor.

We used mum’s yoga mat as a track as we don’t own any.

The results were surprising. Etta thought the kitchen floor would be the “whizziest” and that the car would go the furthest. Which we found was the opposite. The car span off the road! Etta discovered that the car was speediest on the carpet.

Rebecca’s Hot Wheels surface challenge

We decided to see how far the car would go on different types of surfaces. We decided to use: bumpy bubble wrap, rough carpet, smooth wood, and slippery ice. We first had to create the ice track by mixing colours and glitter into water (so we could learn about mixing colours and so we could see the ice better), then we made a mold and learned about different states (liquid to solid). We built our track with the 4 different surfaces. My sister and I took turns to give the car a push on each surface while the other person used orange tape to mark how far the car got. We repeated the experiment 4 times. The smooth wood let the car go the furthest and the bumpy bubble wrap was the hardest for the car to move on.

Ryder’s Hot Wheels race track

Ryder has made a race track for his Hot Wheels car he had so much fun racing his braille car!

James’s Hot Wheels braille race

With his new braille car we tested which of the 2 hot wheels cars went around the track faster.
Both did equally well, though he did prefer it when they crashed.

Ryan’s Hot Wheels launch pad

We made a launch pad out of cardboard then used different materials at the bottom to find out which made the cars go the furthest and which slowed them down the quickest. The paper was smooth so there wasn’t much friction and the cars went a long way. The furry blanket and bumpy mat were the same but I think that’s because the cars jumped or rolled down the first bit so went the same distance. I think the bumpy mat would have slowed them down a bit quicker if they were flat.

Luke’s Hot Wheels magnet challenge

I wanted to see if I could move my cars down a track without touching them, using magnets. We made the track and experimented with magnets to see which would repel and which would attract the cars. Once we worked out the best ones to use, I taped the magnets to the car and used the magnets with the same poles to repel the cars and make them move down the track. It was hard to make them turn but easy to make them move in a straight line.

Felicity’s Hot Wheels tracks

Felicity and her cousin build tracks and ramps for their braille car using giant Jenga bricks and Lego. They had lots of fun playing with their ramps. Some of the designs worked and some did not so they had to work out ways to fix them to get them to work.

Abhishay’s Hot Wheels weight challenge

Does weight make any difference to how high the cars jump?

Abhishay thought the lighter car would jump higher because it has less weight so would go faster up the hill. I thought the heavy car would go faster down the ramp so would jump higher.

We created a track with a ramp down and a bridge. We weighed cars and chose 3 cars of different weights. We also measured how high the cars would jump by taking videos of each car.

Abhishay was quite surprised that the lighter car jumped the highest. He thinks gravity pulls the lighter car down slower when it’s flying through the air than the heavier car.

It was an enjoyable experiment and we learned about gravity.

Tallulah’s Hot Wheels size challenge

My brother Arlo and I raced different sized Hot Wheels cars against my braille car to see which ones were fastest.

Speed test on natural surfaces

He decided to use natural areas for his investigations about the fastest track. The best was the metal slide, smooth wood and stone ramp, the worst was the gravel and the stones.

Etta’s car launcher

Etta created a launcher for her car today.

Hot Wheels rapid speed acceleration test

Invisible energy