Pretoria - Physics made fun was the order of the day at the Technical High School Pretoria Gardens as pupils took part in a drag race of miniature cars.
The miniature cars were made by the pupils with either wood or plastic and had to weigh a minimum of 70g.
“We aimed this more at physics education to show them time of distance, more than it being a race,” said Johan Venter, the CO² (carbon dioxide) Dragster race director.
Venter is a lecturer in the school of electrical engineering at the University of Joburg (UJ), which sponsored the event.
The pupils built the miniature cars, which had a carbon dioxide canister attached to them. During the race, a button was pressed to release the car, and it would shoot forward propelled by the canister.
“The track is 20m long, so the pupils would take the distance of the track and divide it by the time it took to get to the end of the track. They would then get the speed; speed is equal to distance divided by time,” Venter said.
This was the third year the project was running, but the first time the school participated.
Other schools involved were Florida High School and Reddam House Private School. The finals will be held on October 16 at the Zwartkops Raceway.
“For the first time we had a great turnout because there were 39 groups here,” Venter said.
Willie Viljoen, from UJ, said the event was one of a series of events hosted by UJ Technolab and lecturers to educate high school pupils and groom them into first year engineering students at the institution.
There was no prize on offer for the youngsters, but bragging rights in addition to nurturing their skills and knowledge in engineering.
Pretoria News