2009 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.  This year we had 10 teams.  The top three winners from the local competition at OSU, will compete in the regional competition in Columbia, Missouri, on April 3-5, with about 25 other teams.  From them, the top three teams qualify for national competition. 

Team “Sparkle Motion” with School Head Gasem, and team EL SRK.

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.

Team “Gumball Rally” stopped two inches from the target distance.

This year at the local competition, the car had to carry 250 milliliters (about 1½ cups) of water and stop closest to the finish line 80 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.  You can link to the Stillwater News Press coverage of the story: http://www.stillwater-newspress.com/local/local_story_072114239.html

The photo shows students preparing the cars, “The Flange” at the starting line.

Seven OSU Teams have qualified for National competition in the past 7 years.

“This is an entertaining and friendly competition that fundamentally supports chemical engineering education.  It is fun while being integral to our mission.” Says  professor 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.

Dr. Sundar Madihally, who coordinates the activities at OSU, is quoted in a Stillwater News Press article: “The competition gives students real-life examples of what they are learning.  It’s very critical, if you ask me, because not only are they doing the calculations, they can see what the problems are.  “They have to see it working ... it really gives them very good experience.”

Bill Beaulieu, Chad Brown, Shawn Childress, Eric Netemeyer, Mitch Refvek, and Brad Stapleton reviewed the ten 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 2009 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, “Infinitude”, for car performance are juniors Jonathan Pratt, Zach Paden, Ramon Jordan, Clay Siegerist, and Billy Collins.  Their car stopped zero inches from the finish line in the first run and 1” in the second run.  This will challenge the teams in regional and national competition!  “Infinitude” used the reaction of Acetic Acid and Sodium Bicarbonate (vinegar and baking soda) to generate CO₂ gas pressure that pushed a piston, which made the gears turn the car wheels.  The secret for their repeatability is in charging the reaction vessel.

Second Place went to “”Gumball Rally”, stopping 2” over the finish line, and juniors Jamie Sieber, Lori Lewis, Bryan Curtis, Karly Kelch, and David Solis.  They also chose Acetic Acid and Sodium Bicarbonate as the reaction system.  The Carbon Dioxide gas pressure pushed a cylinder that was tied to a string wrapped around the axle.

“Orange Rider” won third place, stopping 8’ 1” from the finish line.  The juniors were Matt Thomas, BJ Abrams, and Amy Stojkov who chose pureed beef liver to catalyze the decomposition of Hydrogen Peroxide.  The reaction liberates O₂ gas which pushed on a piston, which pulled a string wound on the axel, which turned the wheels.

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 team “ELSRK”.  They were JW Ground, Yu Jun Leong, Erica Stas, and Maria Vera.  Their car ran on H₂ gas liberated from the reaction of Aluminum with Sodium Hydroxide.

Second Place in the poster went to the sophomores on “Gumball Rally”, Tamara Asher, Maddie McDaniel, Libby Tyburski, and Ryder Neal.. 

Third in the posters went to sophomores on “infinitude”, Michael Bales, Nan Butler, Jon Massey, Elena Pena, and Micha Smith.

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 seven 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 sophomore-level introduction to Chemical Engineering class, and to Dr. Josh Ramsey who started the teams in the fall in his Transport Phenomena Class.

For more picture and articles...