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Go to:
aka.ms/hotwheelslessonplan
03 Project Overview to access the OneNote
notebook and other resources.
05 Things Youll Need
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Project Overview Hack our projects
In this project, students will measure speed and the impact strength of collisions to
We love innovation and
understand forces, motion, and energy. encourage you to hack
our activities and make
Sensorized Track and Car Mod them your own.
Substituting everyday
objects
21st century technical skills explored in this activity include: Sourcing specialized
materials
aka.ms/hotwheels
shoppinglist
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Sensorized Track
and Car Mod
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Things youll need
Get links to all the materials you need at: aka.ms/hotwheelsshoppinglist
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Sensorize your car
1 2
Straighten your paper clip. Bend both the left and right sides of the paper clip down,
leaving about 2.5 cm of straight section between.
3 4
Make another bend in each end so that they are parallel Glue the parallel ends of the paper clip to the back of your
and resemble the shape above. car.
5 6
Once the glue has cooled, bend the paper clip up so that it Your modified car will resemble the photo above.
reaches above the car.
Cool! Your Car Mod is ready to go. You can move on to timing gates!
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Build Start and Finish Timing Gates.
1 2
Place a piece of clear tape over your 5.5 cm x 2 cm piece of Tape this cardstock piece to the end of the corrugated
heavy cardstock as shown. cardboard.
3 4
Repeat on the other side of the cardboard so that you have Mark 2 cm in from each end of your 19 cm cardstock strip.
cardstock attached at both ends. Next, make a mark in the center, at 9.5 cm.
5 6
Bend the ends up at the 2 cm mark, on either side. Position a small breadboard on the cardstock adjacent to
one of the upward folds.
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7 8
Place a 100 Ohm resistor into your small breadboard as Strip 2.5 cm of coating from one end of a wire and 0.5 cm
shown in the photo above. on the other, using wire strippers or a utility knife.
9 10
Stripping the wire will expose several metal strands. Repeat step 8 to your second wire so that you have two
pieces with stripped ends.
11 12
Twist the strands of the 0.5 cm wire ends so that theyre easy Check your progress to make sure the components youve
to insert, and place them into your breadboard as shown. made so far to resemble the photo above.
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13 14
Tape the two wires down to the cardstock strip, each about Bend the strip to create an arch with the breadboard and
0.5 cm away from either side of the center mark you made wires on the outside.
earlier.
15 16
Attach the bent cardboard to the base you made earlier by Repeat on the other side. You have now made a Timing
slipping the tabs into the sleeves on either end. Gate.
17 18
Bend the sensor wires so that they hang straight down. To attach a gate to the track, temporarily remove the arch
from the cardboard base. Now tape down the base to the
underside of the Hot Wheels track, centered and at 90
angle.
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19 20
Turn your track right-side up. Re-insert the arch into the sleeves of the base. Good work!
This will serve as your Starting Gate sensor.
21 22
Push your car through the gate to make sure the paper clip Next, place three pin-ended wires into the breadboard as
spoiler touches the wires, making a connection. Adjust the shown.
spoiler as needed to make sure they meet.
23 24
Check that your pin-ended wires are connected to the small Repeat steps 1-22 and attach both to a separate piece of
breadboard as shown in this diagram. track to create two more timing gates, to create the finish
line.
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Note: This example makes three timing gates, but you can make up to eight for visualization in the Excel workbook.
25 26
Connect the Starting Gate to the large breadboard and Next, connect the Finish Gate, being mindful of the length of
microcontroller, using the diagram below as a guide. the wires to accommodate the length of your track.
Super job! Your have now completed this portion of the activity that you can attach at the start and finish of your track.
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Build the Impact Sensor
1 2
Make the base of the sensor by cutting two smaller pieces Bend the 10 x 3 cm strip into three panels that follow the
of cardboard strips from your 5 x 14 cm piece. Cut one to be perimeter of one side of the strip.
6 x 3 cm and another to be 10 x 3 cm.
3 4
Apply hot glue to the bent strip. Attach that piece by firmly pressing and holding it in place
until the glue dries.
5 6
Dab a bit of glue in the center of the impact sensor. Carefully press one of your magnets into the glue to attach
it to the cardboard.
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7 8
Next you will apply a copper strip to the base that wraps The copper tape should reach around the entire bottom of
around from the topside of the base, as well as the bottom the base as shown.
side.
9 10
Repeat steps 7 and 8 placing a second piece of copper tape Strip 2 cm of coating from both sides of five solid core wires.
alongside the first.
11 12
Bend the end of one of the wires into a loop and place it Secure the loop in place with a piece of adhesive tape.
atop the copper tape on the upper side of the base.
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13 14
Next, youll sensorize a piece of Hot Wheels track. Position a Velostat strip over the piece of track, as shown.
15 16
Secure the Velostat to the track on both ends with some Make a loop at the end of another of the stripped solid core
adhesive tape. wires and place on the track as shown, at the end of the
Velostat strip.
17 18
Secure the wire loop to the Velostat strip with adhesive tape. Affix a small breadboard on the end of the track below the
wire loop.
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19 20
Insert a 10k Ohm resistor into the breadboard as shown in Place your cardboard component at the end of the track.
the picture above. Take the wires from that component and the wire taped to
the Velostat and plug them into the breadboard.
21 22
Carefully flip your track over and place a magnet on the The magnets will attract and hold the impact sensor in
back of the track to connect the sensor. place.
23 24
Insert the last three stripped solid core wires to the small When completed the breadboard will resemble the above.
breadboard as shown for ground, power, and a signal.
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25
Connect the Impact Sensor track to the Finish Line track, with a Hot Wheels connector using the diagram below.
Impact
Sensor
Congratulations! Youve sensorized your track and are ready to visualize data!
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Configure your track
The main objective in configuring the track is to create enough speed so that the car moves the Impact Sensor approximately
2-3 centimeters. Here are Zone Characteristics to help you along the way:
1 2 3 4
Position the Starting Gate Use 4-4.5 m of straight Place your Finish Gate The Impact Sensor is the
module you made in the track, loops, and curves module at the end of last module to connect to
previous stage at the in various creative your custom track. This the track. This component
beginning of the track. The combinations. Keep in mind segment of the track will measures impact relative
Starting Gate should be that youll need enough stop the timer, providing to the distance the sensor
at least 1-1.5 m above the speed at the end of the track you with lap time and is moved on the track, after
finish line. Attach your track to move the Impact Sensor acceleration data. This impact.
to a chair or table to make a at least 2-3 centimeters. piece, in combination with
taller ramp. the Impact Sensor must be
horizontal.
Have fun designing your own track configurations! Improvise with plywood, rulers, poster board,
cardboard, PVC pipe, and use naturally occurring slopes around your school or classroom. The
Excel workbook allows for up to eight Timing Gates for designing your own forces and motion
experiments.
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Get the flash code
Start by connecting your Arduino to your computer with Go to aka.ms/hotwheelsflashcode and download the flash
the USB cable. Next, you will need to install the Arduino IDE code.
which you can access through the Technical Requirement
links at: aka.ms/hackingSTEMhotwheels
Open your downloaded file to launch the Arduino app. Next, select: Tools > Port > COM# (Arduino Uno) Your com
port may be different than shown.
Then select Tools > Board: Arduino/Genuino Uno > Click on the circular right arrow button to upload.
Arduino/Genuino Uno.
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Get ready to visualize data
To complete the full project, make sure you meet these technical requirements:
Input the name and weight of your Hot Wheels car. Next, input the track information so that Excel is able to make sense of
the data and create a visual.
Trial Data
This portion of the workbook shows the potential and kinetic energy of the car as it moves through the sensorized track.
Below the graph are data points for each gate. These display time, speed, and acceleration as the car moves throughout the
track.
The right side of the workbook displays lap time, average speed, and acceleration of the car throughout the entire track,
as well as collision force. In the bottom corner of the Trial Summary section, save trial data into the leaderboard. Once you
have saved your data and it surfaces in the leaderboard, use the Clear Trial button to reset the track. Youre then ready to
run a new car through the track and collect additional data.
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