6th Place in the 2007
National Chemical Reaction
Powered Car Competition
After qualifying
in regional competition in the
spring our student team placed
sixth in the 2007 national AIChE
Chem-E-Car competition in Salt
Lake City, Utah, this November.
When dismantled,
the cars must fit in a shoe
box. Students must make the
cars, and are free to use any
power system that they choose.
Our team choose to decompose
hydrogen peroxide with potassium
iodide, and proudly painted the
cylinder Cowboy Orange.
Pressure from the reaction
pushes a piston, which drives
the car. The winning car stops
closest to a finish line.
Students who can achieve the
most precise control of a
chemical reaction, not speed,
will have the winning car. The
distance and payload weight
varies from event to event, and
one hour prior to the national
competition, the judges drew
67-feet and 350-ml of water from
the hat. Our car stopped
30-inches from the finish line.
 Sabre
Arrowood, a junior on the 2007
OSU team provides commentary to
introduce the car while
teammates and seniors Jeremy
Tillman and Samira Khashayari
look on.
The team from
Cooper union placed first, only
4-inches from the line, with a
baking soda and vinegar powered
car. The car from Carnegie
Mellon took second with
copper-zinc battery power.
Third went to the University of
Oklahoma who also used KI and H2O2
power. LSU, baking soda and
vinegar, placed fourth. And
Bucknell, with a magnesium fuse
to stop an electric current,
placed 5th. OSU
placed 6th. There
were 33 teams at the national
competition, about three from
each regional competition who
qualified from about 15 in each
region.
In 2005, the OSU
team placed 2nd in
the national competition, and we
have been in the national top 10
almost every one of the past 8
competitions.
 Because
we are leading national trends
in safety incorporation in the
car, and repeatedly show in the
national competition, OSU
students were also invited to
give a presentation on how to
incorporate the Chem-E-Car
contest within the undergraduate
curriculum. Left to Right,
Ogadimna Offer, Grant McCool,
Megan Benyshek, Aleisha McCabe,
Archie Meisman, Derek Sumner,
and OSU Chem-e-Car Advisor
Sundar Madihally pose prior to
the presentation.
We are very
pleased with the support of
Chevron Phillips Chemical
Company for the OSU Chem-E-Car
activities. Employees from “CP
Chem” judge the posters and
encourage students at our local
competition, and review the
preliminary design and safety
analysis that students submit
prior to building the cars.
Funding from CP Chem buys parts
for the cars, and provides funds
for students to participate in
the regional and national
competitions. CP Chem is
essential to the success of our
program.
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