Time vs. mass

[sciencecat42]

How does the time/speed of the car relate to its mass? My car is between 200-300g, and it doesn't seem to go that fast. What kind of mass would you need to get down to a 10 second run time?

[hicanha]

The speed of the car doesn't depend solely upon its mass. How big are the wheels on your drive axle? Their size affects their circumference and thus how far they travel with every wind of string.

[sciencecat42]

The speed of the car doesn't depend solely upon its mass. How big are the wheels on your drive axle? Their size affects their circumference and thus how far they travel with every wind of string.

I have 3in wheels currently. How much does drive axle diameter matter? I was planning to switch to a smaller diameter and smaller wheels, but I'm not sure if that would increase speed.

[falcon1236912]

The speed of the car doesn't depend solely upon its mass. How big are the wheels on your drive axle? Their size affects their circumference and thus how far they travel with every wind of string.

I have 3in wheels currently. How much does drive axle diameter matter? I was planning to switch to a smaller diameter and smaller wheels, but I'm not sure if that would increase speed.

Smaller wheels, a shorter drive arm, and a larger diameter axel will increase speed.

[sciencecat42]

The speed of the car doesn't depend solely upon its mass. How big are the wheels on your drive axle? Their size affects their circumference and thus how far they travel with every wind of string.

I have 3in wheels currently. How much does drive axle diameter matter? I was planning to switch to a smaller diameter and smaller wheels, but I'm not sure if that would increase speed.

Smaller wheels, a shorter drive arm, and a larger diameter axel will increase speed.

I get why smaller wheels help (less rotational inertia) and a shorter drive arm helps (less distance for more force) but what does a larger axle do? What if you decrease both wheel and axle size?

[falcon1236912]

I have 3in wheels currently. How much does drive axle diameter matter? I was planning to switch to a smaller diameter and smaller wheels, but I'm not sure if that would increase speed.

Smaller wheels, a shorter drive arm, and a larger diameter axel will increase speed.

I get why smaller wheels help (less rotational inertia) and a shorter drive arm helps (less distance for more force) but what does a larger axle do? What if you decrease both wheel and axle size?

a larger axel provides more torque and will help increase speed. If you decrease both the wheel size and axel size, the speed would change relative to the new wheel to axel ratio.