Ice Bike by Bob and Brennan We're Bob and Brennan, and we're
into a very cool, very slick sport: ice biking! Our school holds
an annual ice bike race, and goal is to design and build the
winning bike. We know we want to modify one of last year's top
models by adding studs to the tires. The studs will give us
traction, kind of like cleats do on shoes. Our DragonflyTV
question is: How many studs should we add for maximum speed on
ice? What did we do? We grabbed three rubber tires, and
installed 50 studs in the first, 100 studs in the second, and
150 studs in the third. Then we recorded the time it took to go
around a 200 meter ice track once from a complete stop, doing
several trials for each tire. What did we find out? For the
conditions of the track (wet and slushy), we found that the
100-stud tire gave us the shortest race time, and the most
control. We learned that more isn't always better! - Do a
friction study of your own. Get a board (like a plank or shelf),
and some household objects to slide down the p