Making a balloon-powered car is an easy and fun way to turn an ordinary plastic bottle (or other recyclables) into a science experiment and a cool toy!
A simple balloon car project will help you discover several principles of physics at once (including Newton's third law of motion), get a lot of pleasure, and perhaps, even discover a new interesting hobby!
Balloon powered car — a fun experiment to try out with kids
This exciting experiment will allow you to create with your own hands and see in action a craft that works according to the laws of physics. Believe us, this is much more interesting and effective than the boring school lessons!
By participating in this experiment, parents and children can create a car together (it takes only half an hour!) and launch it for the first time together! Not to mention the fact that a bunch of such toy cars will help create a real race track that will allow you to play with all your friends. Just imagine: all kids launch their fast balloon-powered cars wondering whose car is gonna come first!
Simply put, the experiment will allow you to understand how you can use wind energy to move a physical object (in our case, a toy car), as well as get acquainted with other principles of physics. Also, finding out how to build a balloon-powered car is a valuable lesson on how to reuse and repurpose waste items into fun toys!
Necessary balloon-powered car materials:
- plastic water bottle (for creating car’s body);
- four plastic bottle caps (we’ll need them to make wheels);
- common wooden kabob skewer (for creating car’s axles);
- two drinking straws (try to find the straws without the flexible parts, we will use them to attach axles to your toy car’s body);
- one balloon (for creating an engine);
- masking or duct tape for attaching parts;
- knife or scissors (dangerous stage of cutting objects may require the help of your parents).
How to create a balloon-powered car science project
You can use various stuff to create your toy car — you can even use a cardboard sheet. However, at high speed, the headwind will force your cardboard vehicle to rise into the air.
That’s pretty cool, but in this case, your race car is unlikely to finish first. Therefore, we recommend using a plastic bottle (you can also use a cardboard juice box).
The main thing is to use extra-light balloon-powered car materials. In this case, the force of the air pushed out from your balloon will be sufficient to allow the car to pick up crazy speed!
Now let’s find out how to make a balloon powered car!
Creating car chassis
First, you need to cut your drinking straw in half. Take your plastic bottle, and attach both halves to one of the bottle's sides, fixing them with tape. Attention: they must be parallel to each other.
Now take your kabob skewer and cut it in half too. Gently slide both skewer halves into the tubes attached to your car's body. Now, your car’s axles are finished.
Now take your plastic caps and (let your parents help you) use a knife or scissors to make a through hole in each cap. Try to keep the circumference of each hole equal to the diameter of your skewers (don’t make too big holes, otherwise your wheels will fly off when the car will “start”). Now, simply push the caps against the ends of the skewers.
Congrats, you’ve just made the car’s chassis!
Checking car chassis
Put down your unfinished race car on a hard surface (table or floor) and see how it will ride by simply pushing it with your hand. If you did everything right, the car will easily roll on the surface and coast a bit before it completely stops.
But if the baloon powered race car skids get stuck, or don’t roll easily and smoothly, then do the following:
- check that the car’s axles are parallel to each other (this is a necessary condition for the car to run smoothly);
- make sure that there is no friction from the wheels and axles (if there is strong friction, the engine force won’t be enough to push the vehicle forward at high speed). You can use a lubricant to reduce friction;
- check that the holes in the caps are located right in the center (if they aren’t, then the car will “dance” and won’t roll smoothly and evenly);
- check that your straws are securely fixed in one position. If they wobble, just glue them to the bottle.
Building a car engine
Take a balloon and fix its neck around the one end of your second drinking straw with a tape. Make sure that it is tightly fixed — this element should be airtight!
Take the bottle (the car’s body) and cut a hole in the top of it (its diameter should be approximately equal to the diameter of the straw).
Now, push the free end of the straw into the hole and pull it out through your bottle's mouth. You will use it to inflate the balloon. It will also act as a rudder and help your car go straight.
Now, just tape the straw to the bottle.
“The first start” (car performance test)
The most exciting moment!
Inflate your balloon using the free end of the drinking straw, and after that, press it down firmly with your finger. By now, it must be obvious to you what will happen next and how everything works, right?
Now, just put your ready-made balloon-powered car on the floor and remove your finger from the straw. The BURNOUT! Enjoy the ride — you deserve it!
How does it work and what does it show?
The balloon car science project shows kids some engineering and physics concepts!
When you inflate the balloon, it fills with the air: also, it becomes the potential energy that forces the car to move forward.
When you remove your finger from the end of the straw, this potential energy is transformed into kinetic energy (the so-called “energy of motion”: as the “law of conservation of energy” claims, the energy never disappears (even if it looks like that), but changes its form. Normally, the balloon would start flying around: but since it is securely attached to the car, it makes it roll forward!
Another law that you witness during a balloon-powered car science project is Newton's third law, which says that for every action, there exists an equal and opposite reaction.
What does it mean? After you’ve inflated the balloon, when you let go of your finger from its neck, the elastic rubber of the balloon sharply shrinks and pushes air out of it, causing a force to push the air away from the car. According to Newton's law, another force is exerted towards the toy, pushing it ahead.
A similar physical principle is implemented in building rockets: streams of gas burst out of the nozzles with tremendous power and speed, pushing the aircraft forward.
Also, you can see with your own eyes and understand how the car chassis works. This load-bearing framework was invented a long time ago (3500-1000 B.C.), and it’s difficult to imagine the modern world without this invention. During the experiment, you will understand how important it is that the axle and wheels moved easily and smoothly for the vehicle to move fast.
Fun balloon car ideas: make it really awesome!
So, your car is ready, but, most likely, it is still far from perfect! Some elements can limit your car’s speed, and you have to figure out which of them can be improved and how.
There are several tips that you can use to improve your vehicle’s performance and make it invincible!
Improving aerodynamics
One of the most interesting balloon car ideas for improving your vehicle is to give it a more aerodynamic shape. Try to make the car body straight and slick so it can easily cut through the air and gain maximum speed. You can experiment with various materials, sizes of wheels, and other design ideas.
That’s why we’ve decided to use a plastic bottle for creating a car: it has a quite aerodynamic shape, and it is a very light material.
Finding the best wheels
Try using the car in action with different wheels: for example, if you create larger wheels, the car will cover longer distances faster.
And the wheels made of rubber will have the best grip on the surface, which will also increase the speed of your car.
Upgrading the engine
Helium balloons are made of thicker material and can contain more air (these are typical latex balloons and foil balloons).
Also, it is better to use round balls than oval ones: they condense the air better and give your car more force.
Balloon car project: education with fun
Now you know how to make a balloon car! But more importantly, you’ve learned some basic principles of physics and saw them in action: the most important of them is the conservation of energy and Newton's third law of motion.
Also, you have learned to use the materials at hand, giving them a new, completely different purpose. Finally, you figured out how the toy that you’ve created works and how to make step by step improvements.
And one more thing, which is also very important: you’ll have many hours of exciting games with your friends! You can arrange a car race (there’s even a more interesting thing — you can build ramps to make your cars jump in the air), as well as organize a special “demolition derby” to find out whose balloon car is the toughest! Balloons Online provides the best balloons for any occasion at prices that make sense. Check us out at balloons.online!
