Chemical Reaction CarMiri Goldade, Cody Toth, Christopher Jenks

Theoretical Yields:Potassium Iodide and Hydrogen Peroxide; Sodium Bicarbonate

and Acetic Acid

V=0.5L (volume of bottle)

R= 0.08205 L atm/mol K

T= 283 K (room was about 10 degrees celcius)

P= about 5atm to make the car go 25 feet

Amounts of Reactants needed: (KI is a catalyst so we just guessed and checked the amount)

Giselle

NaHCO3 CH3CHOOH Distance (ft)14 190 27

13.5 190 1213.5 180 2811.5 150 28

10 135 1411 150 28

10.8 147 289 123 15

10.2 140 2710.15 140 2010.15 140 16

10.2 140 2010.2 140 28

mL H2O2

(<20%) g KI Distance (ft)50 3 150 5 1.550 10 2

100 15 6150 20 10200 30 20

mL H2O2 (20%) g KI Distance (ft)

100 20 050 35 0

mL H2O2 (10%) g KI Distance (ft)

50 15 260 36 550 36.8 170 37 0

Reaction 2: Baking Soda and Vinegar

Reaction 1: Potassium Iodide and Hydrogen Peroxide

45 65 85 105 125 145 165 185 20505

10152025

Hydrogen Peroxide Decompo-sition

Volume 10 % H2O2 (mL)

Dis

tan

ce (

ft.)

8 9 10 11 12 13 14 150

5

10

15

20

25

30

Baking Soda and Vinegar

Mass Sodium Bicarbonate (g)

Dis

tan

ce (

ft.)

ConclusionsThe potassium and iodide reaction was too unpredictable and

dangerous. Basically, the exothermic reaction blew up our bottle too many times, and never reliably moved the car.

The baking soda and vinegar reaction was safe, but very unreliable, and with minor changes in amounts of either reactant, drastic distance results would occur. In our tests, the car would go past 25 feet, but in the competition our car only went about 18 feet at the farthest, and twice only going a few feet due to cap sealing issues.

Improvements: Construct a sturdier car, using lighter wheels with a lower static friction

coefficient, and a way that the bottle could lay flat. Try different chemical reactions with new reliable chemicals. Use a fuel

cell, probably hydrogen, which would give much more reliability. Use better containment vessels. Instead of low quality plastic bottles

with a bad sealing lid, a metal container made to hold a lot of pressure would have sufficed. Also a different, more reliable, non-leaky release method would have helped, such as a funneled nose.