How can force be used to move a vehicle?


Targets
At the end of this unit, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. What are simple machines, and how do they make work easier?

1.1 What advantage do I get from using a lever?

1.2 How do wheels and rollers help move things from place to place?

1.3 What role do wheel and axle systems have in moving vehicles and devices?
2. How can I build machines so they move the way I want?

2.1 How force be used to move a vehicle?

2.2 How can you build a machine or device that moves on its own?

2.3 What is needed to design a safe vehicle?

2.4 How can ideas be shared and designs be compared to build the best moving device possible?
Targets
Have you ever heard of airboats? In some places in the world, the water is shallow and filled with logs and weeds, so you cannot use a regular water-propeller boat. Airboats have a big fan on the back to push air in the same way that a propeller on an airplane does. This fan provides the force that makes the airboat move very fast. What a great way to explore the swamp!
A force is required to move any vehicle.  Force is the push or pull that makes things move.  The source of the force does not matter.  Designers of vehicles have used their imaginations to construct all sorts of devices and vehicles that are powered by water, air, electricity, magnetism, gravity, steam, and even sunshine!  In this section, you will use your own imagination to build devices that move using various kinds of forces.