At 4:15 p.m., I was completely brain-dead while Hauger explained the force, pull, gravity, weight, aerodynamics, wind resistance, rain drop, triangle, slippery tires, panels, cardboard, duct tape, and something else I cannot remember about the two cars. We pretty much want our cars to be as close to zero drag as possible. Right now, the Ford Focus is a 0.35. The less drag, the more fuel efficiency. I bet I was dragging at about a 12409504932948.0987656 towards the end of today.
Today was our first day back at school. Seriously, I am not complaining. I really do enjoy 150 teenagers in my life at 7:45 in the morning. I also enjoyed the additional three inches of snow interrupting first, second, and third period. Crazy enough, work was accomplished today. The sophomores and juniors finished their interim essays. I saw about 50% of my senior class during eighth period and E.B. White was gracious enough to grace the classroom with a stream-of-consciousness writing style.
The team assembled for its Tuesday meeting run by Hauger and his excessive need for aerodynamics. It is interesting to compare how the students perform during the day versus the afternoon setting. Maybe they are more active in the afternoon, because Ann provides pretzels and clementines. Maybe they are more active, because Ann describes 14 chances for them to public speak, meet fascinating people, and travel outside of West Philly during the school day. February, March, and April are very busy and important months for the team. The mechanical aspects of the cars have to be near perfection in order to participate in the next round in June. Within the next two weeks, the students will speak to Mayor Nutter, appear on a Gates Foundation video, seek tutoring from Penn engineers, and partake in the documentary filming.
It is a very challenging schedule. We wouldn't be doing any of this if we didn't want a challenging schedule. Sometimes mistakes get in our way, and we run into situations that may appear out of our control. If ever there was a time for our students to realize that nothing else matters but taking care of yourself and the education you receive, it is now. We need the students to have zero drag.
If you can, email us some of your thought on how we can make our cars more like a "raindrop." How can we make sure that we are achieving the best aerodynamics we can safely achieve in the cars?
Also, it cannot snow ever again.
Ride or Die.
Ms. R