The CU Chem-E-Car team was the double winner of this year’s Chem-E-Car Competition and Chem-E-Car Poster Competition.
Their car, the Turbo Buffalizer 6000 Remix, utilized an aluminum-oxygen battery to travel the 56 ft to the finish line. A separate iodine clock stopped the car just 1.5 inches from the finish line.
The Chem-E-Car Competition involves designing and constructing a car that is powered with a chemical energy source that will carry a specified water load over a given distance and then stop; mechanical or electronic timing devices are not allowed. The host school picks an exact distance somewhere between 15-30 m and a load between 0-500 ml and shares the distance and weight with participants one hour prior to the competition. Teams must then recalibrate their reactants so cars travel that exact distance with the given load.
A team’s understanding of their power source, stopping mechanism and safety features are put to the test in the Poster Competition. Here, judges have an hour to gauge general understanding, creativity, and presentation skills.
CU’s team was led by junior Neil Hendren and included juniors Aidan Delgado, Cole Heggem and Charles Mullins; sophomores Andres Gandara and Jason Christianson; freshmen Elijah Holland, Katie Oswalt, Dixa Gautam, Tyler Gossett, Brandon Ho and Maddie Sitton. ChBE Safety Coordinator Ann Greco also volunteered countless hours to ensure the team worked safely.
“We have a young team which is really exciting for the coming years,” says Hendren. “Because CU had no car last year, we didn’t really have any experience from which to pull. However, everyone was motivated and so we spent a lot of late nights figuring out the safest and most reliable battery materials.”
Two years ago at the 2013 Regional Conference, CU brought two cars; the team took home the Most Creative award for their biodiesel car and second place in the poster competition for their battery car. However, they did not bring a car to last year’s competition, making this year’s wins all the more exciting.
CU’s Chem-E-Car team is now gearing up for the national competition this coming November in Salt Lake City. Along with improving their calibration schemes, they are putting together a video for the national video competition.
“We can’t wait to compete at nationals,” says Hendren. “We’ve been working since regionals to make the car better than ever.”
If you are interested in participating on the Chem-E-Car Team, please email wendy.young@colorado.edu.