The students' task last week was to build LEGO cars and power them using balloons. We watched a few videos to get ideas about how other people engineered their cars, and then the fourth graders were off to the races!This activity teaches kids' about Newton's third law of motion: "For every action there is an equal and opposite re-action." In this scenario, the initial action is air leaving the balloon, and the car's movement is the opposite re-action. If you watch the experiment in action (just follow the link at the end of the article), you'll notice that the direction in which the air escapes the balloon is in the opposite direction of the movement of the car. Keep that in mind in case you want to make your own and to make sure you understand the concept of Newton's third law of motion!
If you'd like to make your own LEGO car, follow the link below for inspiration, and then make sure to tap into your own engineering skills to make your car go faster and farther!
-A. Judge
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK1H0lzgI_0
