2008 Chemical Reaction Powered Car Competition At OSU
 

Each year, teams of OSU ChE juniors and sophomores build a shoe-box sized “car” that is powered by a chemical reaction.  The top three winners from the local competition at OSU, competed in the regional competition in Lincoln, Nebraska with about 25 other teams, and from them the top three teams qualify for national competition.   The competition requires the car to carry a payload and stop closest to the finish line.  Rather than a speed race, the competition challenges students to precisely control a chemical reaction that performs a particular function, within good safety, environmental, and cost practices.

This year at the local competition, the car had to carry 350 milliliters (about two cups) of water and stop closest to the finish line 95 feet away.  The payload weight (between 0 and 500 ml) and distance (between 50 and 100 ft) are randomly drawn one-hour prior to the competition. 

The photos show students preparing the cars at the starting line.  The car above placed first at the local competition.

Six OSU Teams have qualified for National competition in the past 6 years.

“This is an entertaining and friendly competition that fundamentally supports chemical engineering education. It is fun while being integral to our mission.” Says School Head Russ Rhinehart, “And we are very grateful to Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. for their support of the event.”

Students must apply their knowledge of chemical reactions, fluid dynamics, and thermodynamics in the car design; and through a poster session present and explain their choices relative to car performance as well as aspects safety, environmental impact, and reliability.  At the OSU local competition, engineers and scientists from Chevron Phillips Chemical Company judge the student poster presentations and ability to answer questions about their car design and analysis.

Bill Beaulieu, Stan Zisman, Chad Brown, and Bill Fisher reviewed the nine student posters and asked penetrating questions.  Earlier in the year, Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. personnel reviewed proposals from each team relative to safety.  The high level of C.P. Chem. participation indicates the value they place on this exercise in the process of engineering - use technology to create something that works, within constraints, for a range of duties, and come in on budget and on time.  Students have to focus on safety, loss prevention, and pollution.  They also have to do it within a diverse team, in competition with other enterprises.

Staff member Eileen Nelson designed the 2008 Logo, printed on the back of each T-shirt. 

In addition to providing employee travel and time to interact with the students, Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. provided the funds to support the activities, buy parts for the cars, provide dinner, buy the team shirts, and provide travel support for our teams to participate in regional and national competition (wearing the team shirts that clearly indicate the OSU teams). 

In 2005 our team placed 2^nd in the nation and continued on to place 6^th in the world competition in Malaysia.

Students on the OSU winning team for car performance are juniors Steven Castlebury, Josh Hamit, and Brandy Hill.  Josh and Brandy are shown with C.P. Chem. Manager Bill Beaulieu.   Their car used pureed beef liver to catalyze the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide to oxygen gas.  Pressure from the gas pushed a piston attached to a geared “rack” that drove the wheels.  Their car came within 4 feet of the finish line at our local competition.  However, their car had a lot of initial power, and with insufficient weight on the front wheels, it would do a “wheelie”.  This became a problem in the regional competition, where the “hat” drew zero ml of water; and with no weight on the front of the car, it did a wheelie and took off at an angle.  Students have modified the car to make it robust to such extremes of operating conditions, and are hoping to be selected for national competition as a “wild card”.

            Second Place went to juniors Sabre Arrowood, Libby McKaig, and Jennifer Jones.  Jennifer is missing in the photo.  They chose citric acid and baking soda as the reaction system.  The carbon dioxide gas pressure pushed a cylinder that was tied to a string wrapped around the axle.

            Third place went to Chad Osborn, Brian Nix, and Sarah Wilkes, who chose potassium chloride to catalyze the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide.   

In the OSU competition, we assign the car as a project to juniors in the reaction kinetics class and to sophomores in the material and energy balance class.  Half of the students on each team are from the juniors and from the sophomores.  A mixed team of juniors and sophomores has several advantages.  Next year, when the sophomores become juniors will have a better understanding of competition; and having worked with the class above and with the class below by the time they graduate, students relate to individuals in other levels in sharing School pride and values.  Juniors are primarily responsible for the reaction, safety, and car construction.  Sophomores are primarily responsible for the poster and environmental issues.

First place in the poster and judging portion went to the sophomores on the team that placed second in the competition.  They were Nicole Cabalo, Drew Fleck, Ramon Jordan, Daphne Lee, Brent Morris, Dominique Noel, and Clay Siegerist.

Second Place in the poster went to sophomores Elena Pena, Jared Begemann, Wes Gier, Jake Grant, Drew Sahli, Micha Smith, and Jenni Williamson.  Their reaction turned a paddlewheel, linked to the drive axle.   Stan Zisman and Bill Beaulieu are representing C. P. Chem.

            Third in the posters went to sophomores Renee Hale, Ahmed Al Rajhi, Kim Bragg, Terrell Grayson, S.T. Macklin, Kevin Mattenson, and Bryan Curtis.  Their car used a homemade battery to provide “go” power to a small electric motor, and an iodine clock reaction to stop the electrical circuit.  Although their car tended to travel a curved path, it seemed to be able to travel the right distance.  They placed 4^th in the local competition, barely behind our third place team, who let them take their spot in the regional competition.

Each year students design and build the cars from scratch.  We do not recycle last year’s best cars.              

We are especially grateful to the six years of continual support from Chevron Phillips Chemical Co.  Their financial gift supports all aspects of the competition, and the personal participation by their employees provides strong affirmation to the students that the curriculum topics, “co-petition”, safety and environment, teamwork, quality of presentation, and comprehensive student development are important enough to warrant high-level corporate interest.

Special thanks to Dr. Sundar Madihally who coordinated the year-long event at OSU, and to Dr. Karen High who willingly integrated the activity into her junior-level reaction kinetics class.