164 – Flywheel drive

Mechanics, Rotation

Introduction to:

Energy conversion, kinetic energy, inertia, flywheel storage, storing rotational energy.  

Material:  

Flywheel-drive vehicle, e.g. a toy car, available in various designs as a ready-made product. 

Experimental instructions:  

• Remove the chassis to reveal the drive. 
• Push the flywheel vehicle strongly, so that the flywheel picks up rotational energy.  
• Lift the vehicle and place it at the bottom of an inclined plane.  

Observation:

• The vehicle drives up the inclined plane by itself.  
• The flywheel rotates at different speeds, depending on the gear ratio, and possibly against the wheels’ direction of rotation.  

Didactic potential:

Suitable mostly as a demonstration experiment.