Alabama STEM Explorers is made possible by the generous suppor of Hudson Alpha Institute for Biotechnology Southern Research Solving the world's hardest problems the Holle Family Foundation, Alabama Works Alabama STEM Council, Alabama Mathematics, Science, Technology and Engineering Coalition, Alabama Math, Scienc and Technology Initiative.

I love these little toy cars, don't you?

You just wind them up and let them go, but not too far.

Try this one.

Oh goodness.

Try this one.

Oh no.

Oops!

Man, that moment really fast.

I wonder why.

Let's find out.

Thanks for joining us on today's episode of Alabama's STEM Explorers and Katherine, and I'm Anderson And Anderson, I are here at Southern Research in Birmingham, Alabama.

I was just telling Katherine about my car's health, how I pulled one back way too far and it zoomed off of the table.

Yeah, I heard that loud crash.

Yeah, it was pretty bad.

But I was wondering, why did it go so fast?

That's a great question, Anderson.

And I think we have the potential for a pretty cool experiment.

What do you say?

We build a car right here in the laboratory.

A real car here in the lab?

Well, not a real car, but a mousetrap car.

Oh, a mouse trap.

Wait, is that car that catches mice?

No, not quite.

And that Trump card is just a it's been like this ta-dah!

Oh, that's pretty cool.

But how does it work?

That's a really good question, Anderson.

And it works by force in changes in motion.

And so what happens is, let's take a look.

So when you look at this mousetrap car and you look at the mousetrap, what part of the mousetrap do you think I would get the car moving?

Hmm.

Maybe the spring.

Yeah, that's right, that's exactly right.

So when this spring is compressed or when it's tightened, and that's when this bar is going to be pulled all the way back in, that is going to allow us to store energy inside of this spring.

OK.

Wait, energy out of spring?

Yeah, that's right.

And to do that, we need to apply force to the car so that we can transform the energy.

And so we can do that using this string.

And so I'll show you so as the roller mousetrap car bac this fishing line or the string is going to rotate and it's going to wrap around that back axle.

You see that?

Yeah, I do.

So now we're car set.

Yeah, that's exactly right.

The car is set, and so the stored energy is called potential energy.

And once the wheels are released like this, I'll show you this spring will decompress and it'll pull this mousetrap car forward.

And so the force of the spring will be the greatest whenever it's pulled all the way back.

So force is just a fancy word for pushing or pulling, so I could push you pretty hard and that would be exerting a lot of force.

Or I could maybe pull you a little bit softer, and that would be a little bit less force.

Does that make sense?

Yeah.

But has the spring makes the car move again?

Excellent question, Anderson.

And so this string right here exerts a force on the bar of the mousetrap.

And the cool thing about that is it's going to allow this axle to rotate in our wheels to rotate.

And at that point, we are transforming potential energy or the stored energy in the spring into energy in motion or what we call kinetic energy.

But hey, interesting, why don't we go on over to the Southern Research Speedway and let's race the mousetrap part?

OK.

Welcome to the Southern Research Speedway.

What do you think, Anderson?

It's pretty cool.

Very cool.

I'm really excited that you guys are here with us today So what we're going to do is we're going to take a look at two different versions of mousetrap cars.

And now when you're designing a mousetrap car, you can either design it for speed or you can design it for distance so Anderson between these two cars.

Which one do you think was designed to go the fastest?

Hmm.

Maybe this one, because it's lighter.

Hey, that's a really good hypothesis.

And you know what we can do.

We can test it out.

And one of my favorite equations.

When you're working with mousetrap cars is they calculate speed.

And the way we do that is by dividing distance divided by time.

And you can think about this the same way as if you're driving in a car.

So if you're going 60 miles an hour, that means that you can travel 60 miles within one hour.

Does that make sense?

Yeah, it makes sense.

OK.

So what we're going to do is we are going to calculate speed, and we're also going to determine the distance that each of these two mousetrap cars travels.

All right.

And so what are will you to do?

Anderson is I want you to wind this one up, OK, and then take it down to the beginning of the track.

Oh.

Okay.

All right.

The wound is ready to go, it is ready.

I think it's ready.

OK, all right.

When I tell you, go, you're going to let it go.

On your mark, get set.

Go.

All right, so this mouse trap car went about three and a half meters in at 5.7 seconds.

So can you do some quick calculations for me?

So I'm going to write three and a half meters?

OK. And 5.7 seconds.

So remember, to calculate speed, you're going to calculate distance divided by time.

So what is my speed?

Let's see.

Your time is 0.61.

So our car traveled about point six meters in one second, so now that we have that data point, what we're going to do is we are going to test out the car with a long dowel.

So are you ready on your mark?

Get set, go.

All right.

And she's off.

She's going, she's going.

She's going.

All right.

She could continue to go.

She could continue to go.

All right.

This one with 5.5 meters in nine and a half seconds.

So let's calculate that.

So we have 5.5 meters and 9.5 seconds.

So what speed does that give me?

Um, it gives you 0.57 0.57 meters per second.

So what we can tell from the data that we collected is that this car went faster, but it didn't go as far.

So why do you think that might be?

Well, maybe because this one has this add on?

Yeah, that's right.

And it all comes down to mechanical advantage and mechanical advantage is that play over and over again in these mousetrap cars because it's that play.

But it's sort of in reverse because it works both ways, right?

So basically, when we without the dowel, you were applying this force just over a shorter distance.

And so all that force is being applied pretty quickly But with the dowel, what it's going to do, it's going to apply the same amount of force, but over a greater amount of time, which allows this mousetrap car to to travel further.

Does that make sense?

Yeah, it makes a lot of sense now.

So for our viewers at home, if you want to build a mousetra car, you need all of these fancy pieces Anderson.

So why don't you grab that mousetrap car that you made the other day?

So Anderson made a really cool mousetrap car and he just threw some DVDs.

And so all you really need is maybe some cardboard, some glue, DVDs, CDs and a mousetrap.

And what will that do, Anderson?

It will feel your need for speed.

Hi, my name is Shreya, and I've heard that hummingbirds can fly upside down and backwards.

Is that true?

What a great question.

Hummingbirds are the only birds that can fly backwards and upside down.

The hummingbird is the only bird that can hover.

It manages this by flapping its wings 20 to 80 times a second.

It can fly straight up and straight down, backwards and forwards.

The design of a hummingbird wings differs from most other types of birds.

Hummingbirds have a unique ball and socket joint at the shoulder that allows the bird to rotate its wings 180 degrees in all directions.

The shape of their wings or long, narrow and tapered, which allows them to move more quickly and easily through the air.

Additionally, the shoulder and elbow joints of the wings are very close to their tiny bodies, allowing the wings to tilt and pivot.

These characteristics allow hummingbirds to change flight directions in a way that other birds cannot.

So I'm a process engineer and our General Assembly shop are responsible for managing the installation of equipment and process implementation and process improvements for the powertrain system I'm responsible for managing the installation of robots or managing teaching of those robots with our maintenance team.

So that's part of my job.

Implementing processes on how to actually assemble parts to the vehicle, as well as improving parts so they can fit better to the vehicle.

So that is pretty much what I do here at Hyundai.

So I would say that probably 30 years ago, I think it would be if I could imagine what it would be, it'd be like a very manual process, very hands on.

You probably could build one vehicle and probably like eight hours or something of that nature, whereas today, you know, we have robots and we have conveyers and we have a device to help us build those vehicles And so now you can build one vehicle within, you know, three or four hours.

If I had to think about the technology and how it's evolved, I think about like different features that vehicles have lik lane assist or, you know, backup cameras.

We definitely didn't have those in our cars ten years ago or five years ago, you know, blind spot detection and things like that coming to work here at Hyundai.

I would say that I mean, this place is fascinating at the rate of how we build our cars.

I mean, and just seeing all the different type of robot and just I mean, even though I work in General Assembly, but looking at the robots and welds and things like that, I mean, there is just so fascinating.

So what I would tell my 13 year old cousin or niece or my 13 year old self, I would definitely say perseverance, hard work, tenacity, drive, patience will definitely get you to become an engineer.

Anderson and I are at Audubon Indoor Speedway in Bessemer, Alabama, and we're here with our friend Jay, and he is going to teach us about the science and the physics behind go-cart racing.

All right, so starting off is speed is how fast the object moves in a given time.

Now, do you know a few ways to measure speed miles per hour meters per second?

And then there's also another one kilometers per hour Oh wow, I didn't know about that one me either.

Now onto the next one is acceleration.

So acceleration is the rate of the change in speed over at a given time.

Now there are multiple different ways that multiple different types of acceleration start now, which is increase in speed, decrease in speed and a change in direction.

OK, that makes sense.

That makes sense.

Changing direction that one could be tricky.

I wouldn't have thought of that right off the bat.

Yeah, me neither.

Now, next up, I'm going to step out stage a little and let Sir Isaac Newton take over with his second law of motion that states that an object, that object would continue its direction and speed unless something causes it to stop.

Now.

In the go-cart, what will stop a race, a flag breaks, breaks now slamming on your brakes, create friction.

Oh OK. Yeah, we know.

Yeah, we know about friction.

Yeah.

Now when you slamming on your brake that heats up the brake pads, that's causing your brakes, brakes, the connect stop and you eventually slowed down.

Now, Sir Isaac Newton's first Law of Motion states that object will not move unless something makes it move.

Now, when you start your speed will increase.

But what will cause you to slow down change in direction?

There you go.

Ha ha.

Stick with me, Anderson.

I gotcha.

Now we're on to momentum momentum to continue motion of object.

That is what will help you get through the turns.

So for example, when you're trying to take a turn, you got to think about how are you going to take it?

How are you going to if you're going to try to take it sharp or take it wide, which comes in to angles.

So a sharp turn would be basically an acute angle, while wide turn would be an obtuse angle which angle do you think we should take?

Like, should we do sharp turns wide turns?

How can I be Anderson?

You like to do a mixture?

OK.

So for some turns, you want to keep it sharp, whil sometimes you want to take it a little bit wider to try to get around it easier.

Well, so having to slow down too much doesn't even have any question anything?

No, but I think it's pretty cool how cars do this thing?

Yeah, there's a lot of science behind go cart racing.

Who knew I'm ready, Anderson, are you ready to go?

I am definitely ready to destroy you OK?

In your wildest dreams, Anderson, we will see on the track, alright Anderson?

Here we are.

We are ready to race.

So first thing is first, we've got to put on our socks.

Oh, yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, there we go.

All right, and now, what helmet would you like?

Safety first?

Of course.

Um.

I think I'll go with this one.

All right, good.

That's a good choice.

I think I'm going to grab this one.

OK. All right.

Let's suit up.

You are so going down, Anderson.

It is not in your dreams.

All right.

We got our gear.

We are ready to go.

Helmets on.

Well, you're looking fine, Anderson, you're looking fine.

Whatever, I'm going to win in your dreams it is not even going to be close.

I was talking to your mama the other day and you said you drive like a grandma.

I say, you look like a grandma.

Oh, oh, all right.

We'll see you on the racetrack.

Let's go.

All right, I'll give you a head start, that's one Anderson.

Go, grandma go.

You'll see.

Oh no.

We're coming up on a big turn here Anderson Go, go, go.

Oh, I'm so glad I made that I was so close.

Yeah, that one was a close one.

Yeah.

These wheels are really, really spinning.

And did you know that the wheels on these go carts they're actually designed for like the maximum friction to grip for those quick starts, which you are not doing a very good job at because you're so slow?

Also, like quick stops in the hold there, hold their course through these like G-force turns.

Did you know that really well?

Yeah, absolutely.

And the friction between the wheels and the track, they're different when the Coke, the go cart is like at rest.

And then when the go cart is in motion, it's so cool.

There's so much physics going on.

I didn't know that, but this is going really fast.

Yeah, absolutely.

And that friction force depends on the type of surfaces and contact and the weight of the object.

So you are being supported.

I'm coming up on this wall.

Wait, I'm turning right, but I'm going left in my seat.

I know why.

Remember that all objects at rest in this day and rest were all objects in motion tend to stay in motio unless a force causes them to change their motion.

What was the force that just made you crash her?

I don't know.

The wall!

Yeah, about me.

You crashed into the wall.

Yeah.

So this is what Newton's first law motion.

That's why it's called inertia.

It's what inertia is all about.

Another thing that's really cool about it is inertia is also the resistance to a change in motion and which, like those larger objects, are more difficult to change their motion with small objects So think about it like this, Anderson.

So you know how, like a small hummingbird, it can move and it can turn super fast?

Yeah, yeah.

And then like a large animal, like a giraffe, it seems to move in like slow motion.

That all has to do with inertia.

And then another thing.

So when you come to a sudden stop the reverse of what happen at the beginning of the race that occurs, I mean, so when you're in motion and then you come to an abrupt stop you tend to keep moving, right?

So just like when you crash, you're going to keep on moving.

Your body is going to keep on moving and it will end up in front of the car.

If you're not secure by your seatbelt, so good thing you are wearing your seatbelt.

Yeah, I'm glad right now because I'm taking taking this turn.

Andrson how fast do you think we're going, we're going even faster than before, maybe like 100 miles per hour?

I don't think so.

I don't know how fast we're going, but maybe I mean, is super super fast.

This is so crazy, super duper rather than understatement.

And this is speed, right?

And this is what we were talking about earlier this speed.

And there's two types of speed you can think about how far you went and how long it took.

And that is like this speed limit side on this side of the road and the other one is more specific and that includes what direction you're going.

And in physics, that's called velocity.

VelociCoaster, oh, man, oh, man.

what a race.

Anderson, I told you it was not even going to be close and it wasn't.

Oh gosh, that was a lot of fun.

Oh, yeah, that was definitely so fun, except for the crash.

The crash was really scary.

It was a little scary.

It was scary, but not as scary as your hair right now.

Yeah, scary.

The yeah.

So that crash was pretty cool, and that was just another example of Newton's first law of motion, right?

I mean, your body, you were moving, you were going You were, you know, you were.

You were in motion until something or the wall or my cart made you stop, right?

And so that's why you felt your body move forward But something that was also really cool was, you know, when we spun out a few times.

Yeah.

Why do you think that is like, give me a science word that that you think might be that reason?

Maybe we didn't have enough friction.

I'll bet is exactly right.

And you're really smart.

That's right.

And so friction is a good thing.

You need friction to it to actually be able to go if there is no friction at all.

There's no way your cart will move.

But yeah, when there's you've got to find that balance because otherwise you're just going to spin out and it's going to go, it's going to go wild.

Well, that's pretty crazy.

Yeah.

Well, I had a lot of fun today and our viewers at home want to have the time of their life definitely come back and check this place out.

You learn a lot of science and you have a lot of fun and you beat kids like Anderson and you have hair like hers.

When people ask what you do and you tell them you work at Hyundai, I mean it's a pretty, pretty good feeling, you know, and and you know, this is almost like the dream job of Montgomery, Alabama.

If you work here, you, you know you're doing something When I walked in the door the first day, it was kind of you kind of take a step back and use your eyes, get big and you're like, Wow, I mean, it was almost like Am I really good enough to do this?

You know?

But but you know, the people here that, you know, they coached you up and they trained you the way you need to be trained.

But the technology that we see every day is is remarkable.

It really is.

And how we went from people doing it to now full automation is is incredible.

We used computers, PLC HMI's robots and in math, you know, robots use math and calculating offsets and things like that.

When I first started, you know, I was I was a little intimidated by a robot.

You know, you look at that thing and it's ten feet tall and you're like, Wow, you know, I'm about to control this thing.

We've got over 364 robots in our shop alone.

And I think they're going to be added more here soon.

If you can get understand the robots and work with robots and understand how they work, you 100% have a job out here and a very good job out here.

You know, as many robots as we have, there's always going to have a robot guy.

You know, we got one on call, pretty much 24/7.

So there's always a future in robotics out here.

Hyundia is I know, they ain't going nowhere anytime soon.

You know, they the way they handle things and do thing going to be around a long time and then build better cars every year, they're making changes constantly.

You know, as far as maintenance field, you know, if they're robots over run and they're going to have maintenance somebody to work on them and then there'll always be production, you know, spots available to someone's got to put parts on cars, things like that.

So little as long as they're building cars, there'll be opportunities for, you know, jobs in this wonderful place to work.

It's remarkable that it's here in Alabama.

Thanks for watching.

Alabama's STEM Explorers.

If you missed anything or you want to watch something again, you can check out our website at Alabama STEM Explorers dot org.

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Feel free to send us a video question or an email on our website.

Alabama STEM Explorers dot org.

Thanks again for watching.

We'll be back next week.

Alabama STEM Explorers is made possible by the generous support of Hudson Alpha Institute for Biotechnology, translating the power of genomics into real world results.

Southern Research Solving the world's hardest problems The Holle Family Foundation established to honor the legacy of Brigadier General Everett Holly and his parents, Evelyn and Fred Holley, champions of servant leadership Alabama works a network of interconnected providers connecting business and industry needs to a highly skilled and trained workforce.

Alabama STEM Council dedicated to improving STEM education, career awareness and workforce development across Alabama.

Alabama Mathematics, Science, Technology and Engineering Coalition for Education advocating for exceptional STEM education in Alabama.

Alabama Math, Science and Technology Initiative, the A initiative to improve math and science teaching statewide.