The Physics of an Electric Car Essay - 1718 Words

The Physics of an Electric Car Cannon returns home from work on an average day. He gets his things and trudges into the house, thinking about the events of the day. He relaxes for the evening, thinking about the good things in life. He is lucky that he has a good job, a nice house, and a nice car. But wait, it feels like he forgot something today. His mind races, did he forget a project at work? He couldn’t have, he works so hard to keep up. Not thinking of what he forgot, Cannon stumbles to bed for much needed rest. About three o’clock, Cannon shoots out of bed. He remembered†¦ He forgot to plug in his car. Will there be enough power in the batteries to get him to work? How in the world does that car work anyway? During the†¦show more content†¦Our team took an old pickup and converted it to electric power. We used 16, 6 volt deep-cycle lead acid batteries for our power source. The batteries were wired in a series to produce 96 volts. These were placed in special built boxes under the bed of the pickup. The reason for this is the resistance in the wires caused heat. Exposure to the air helped to dissipate that heat due to the electric resistance in the wires between batteries. Because the batteries were wired in a series, the end voltage added to 96 volts, enough to power our motor. This is quite a bit of electric energy. Another two lead-acid, 12-volt car batteries were installed in our pickup. These batteries are wired in a parallel circuit. These batteries are the power supply for things like the radio, windshield wipers, heaters and lights. These batteries have a drain on them also, and it is a hazard to let them run out while driving. A lead-acid battery is â€Å"†¦made by putting lead and lead oxide plates (known as electrodes) into dilute sulfuric acid (the electrolyte). A 12-volt car battery is made by connecting six (2 volt systems) of these together† (Kirkpatrick, 498). These batteries can be recharged. To recharge them, a current is run backwards through the battery pack to reverse the chemical reaction, replenishing the electric energy. The 96 volts produced by the battery pack is then routed throughShow MoreRelatedA Report On Mass Transport Systems Essay985 Words   |  4 Pagesemissions are from highway vehicles and over 50% are from cars and light trucks.3There are 28% of energy used for transportation in the U.S..4 More efforts should be put to reduce the transportation dependency on fossil fuel. In the meantime, biofuel and hydrogen are the alternatives to the fossil oil. Alternative types of vehicle is also invented, such as hybrid and hydrogen powered cars. Mass Transport Systems - Hybrid Vehicles: Hybrid cars are the cars that do not rely on one power source only. 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