The Racecar Book

Build and Race Mousetrap Cars, Dragsters, Tri-Can Haulers & More

Bobby Mercer, Bobby Mercer

• Publisher: Chicago Review Press
• eBook ISBN:
  9781613747179
• Year: 2013

A project book for young readers with a need for speed, this work provides instruction on 25 easy-to-construct racecars that can be driven both indoors and out. They will learn how to use mousetraps, rubber bands, chemical reactions, gravity, and air pressure to power the cars that are made for little or no cost using recycled and repurposed materials. Readers will discover how to turn a potato chip can, a rubber band, and weights into a Chip-Can Dancer; retrofit a car with a toy plane propeller to make an air-powered Prop Car; and use an effervescent tablet in a small canister to make an impressive rocket engine for a Mini Pop Car. Each project is accompanied by a materials list, detailed step-by-step instructions with photos, and explanations of the science behind each racecar, including concepts such as friction, Newton's laws of motion, and kinetic and potential energy.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1 The Starting Line
• 2 Mousetrap Cars
• 3 Rubber Band Racers
• 4 Rocket Racers
• 5 Edible Racers
• 6 Gravity Racers
• 7 Racecar Launchers