Balloon Car Analysis- Matt Fothergill and Joe DeMaio

Our balloon car relates to Newton's 1st Law of Motion in several ways. For example, the car stayed at rest until we released the balloon which caused an unbalanced force that pushed our car forwards. If it wasn't for friction, then our car would have kept moving unless acted on by an unbalanced force, because the friction of the hallway floor rubbing against our CD wheels slowed the car down. Our balloon car also relates to Newton's 2nd Law of Motion. When we were creating our balloon car, we wanted to make sure that it was not too heavy. The heavier the car, the slower the car would go due to inertia. The balloon would not have enough force to overcome the inertia of the car if too heavy. Since our car had less mass, it required less force to move. This meant that our car's momentum would be lower because it is lighter. However, if our car had a lot of mass, then its momentum would be higher but would have to surpass the initial inertia. The only problem with that is the fact that the balloon would not have enough force to make the car start moving; therefore, there is no point in having a lot of momentum if the car cannot overcome the initial inertia. Our balloon car relates to Newton's 3rd Law of Motion because of the air that is being pushed out of the balloon. The air pushing one way is acting as the action, and the car rolling the other way is the reaction. This is how our balloon car related to Newton's Laws of Motion.