Objective: To be able to use the concept of electromagnetic repulsion in avoiding road accidents.
Problem: Is electromagnetic force of repulsion enough to avoid impacts.?
Introduction:
Maglev Train, a train that uses the repulsion of like charges within its railings in order for it to levitate and move, was the inspiration of this project. The team thought of some ways to use the concept and build something useful. Until, the group thought of some serious road accidents the happened in the past, so this could be a key to avoid them. This concept may be applied in our roads. By placing electromagnets of the same charge onto the car and onto some objects on the road(fences ,post, railings, etc.).These could prevent cars from hitting these objects. These proposal could be a breakthrough in the road safety campaign of the government. The team used coloumb’s law in determining the force of repulsion. That states that the interaction between charged objects is a non-contact that acts over some distance of separation. The equation is :
F = K (Q1) (Q2) / d2 Where k is Coulumb’s law constant, Q1 represents the quantity of charge on object 1 , Q2 represents the quantity of charge in object 2.d represents the distance of separation between the two objects.
Sources: www.physicsclassroom.com, www.ehow.com , www.physics.sjsu.edu
Procedure:
Materials:
Electromagnet(Nail, Copper Wire, D-cell battery)
Wooden box (5” wide on all sides, 5”tall)
Toy Car( 4 x 5 inches)
Spring scale
Tape
The project is simple, in order to test wether it would be effective, the team will place electromagnet on a toy car and on a mini wooden box. This electromagnets has a specific charge ex.(1 coulumb’s).Now we will apply a certain force, (using the hand and a spring scale to measure the force)and test if the car will hit the mini fence with the electromagnet attached to it. If it fails to hit, then the team will try applying larger force