What type
of Weight should I use?
Most pinewood derby racers
use LEAD to add weight to thier cars. And that's fine and good if all you
want is for your car to go down the track. But To take FULL ADVANTAGE of
physics, specifically the Concentration of Mass Theory, A Serious Pinewood
Derby Racer will look for a better alternative. A Heavier Metal. Because
the next guy just might doing the same thing as you!
Platinum - Symbol: PT
Atomic weight 196.078 21090 kg/cubic meter.
at Roughly $866.00 per ounce it would set you back about $3464.00 to add
weight to your pinewood derby car. You almost could buy a real car for
that much, so even if you are seriously considering it, The Pinewood Professor
recommends you buy pizza futures instead.. Other Heavy metals would be
Ruthenium, rhodium, palladium (about $200 an ounce), osmium, iridium along
with Platinum make up a group of elements referred to as the platinum group
metals (PGM) but since most of these are not really suited for Pinewood
Derby Racing, Let's look at some of the other Heavyweights.
Below is a shortened
version of the periodic table of
elements showing the
HEAVY METALS
So For the Highest Performance
Weighting Scheme for
your pinewood derby car, You should use Tungsten. Cheap, Not as cheap as
Lead, but cheaper than Gold and a Much Higher Concentration of mass than
Lead weighting. |
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|
Gold
-Symbol Au Atomic weight 196.9655 19300 kg/cubic
meter -
Heavier
than LEAD which is Great for concentration of MASS but at a cost of $440.00
per ounce you would need about 4 ounces so it would cost you about
$1760.00 just to add weight
to your pinewood derby car. Far too expensive for the average racer to
consider.
Lead- Symbol- Pb Atomic
weight 207.2 11340 kg/cubic meter.lead
is usually contaminated with metals such as antimony, arsenic, copper,
gold, silver, tin, and zinc. The
ancient Romans used lead to make water pipes, some of which are still in
use today. Unfortunately for the ancient Romans, lead is a cumulative poison
and the decline of the Roman empire has been blamed, in part, on lead in
the water supply
Tungsten
- Symbol W Atomic weight 183.84 19250
kg/cubic meter. and at about $50 per metric
ton mined, you should be able to outfit your Pinewood derby Racer with
Tungsten weights as a cost effective and Concentration of Mass abiding
alternative to LEAD or Lead-Tin composite weighting.
Rhenium - Symbol Re Atomic
weight 186.207 21020 kg/cubic meter. -its
density is exceeded only by that of platinum, iridium, and osmium, and
its melting point is exceeded only by that of tungsten and carbon.
Osmium - Symbol Os Atomic
weight 190.23 22610 kg/cubic meter.
discovered at the same time
by the British chemist Smithson Tennant in 1803 Unfortunately Metallic
osmium is hard, brittle and very difficult to make. Powdered osmium is
easier to make but emits osmium tetroxide (OsO4) when it is exposed to
the air. Unfortunately, osmium tetroxide smells bad and is very poisonous.
Therefore, Dont use it to Weigh down your Pinewood Derby car. Bad idea.
Iridium
- Symbol Ir Atomic weight 192.217 22650 kg/cubic
meter Also
discovered by Mr. Tennant, Iridium is the most corrosive resistant metal
known. So your pinewood derby car may never Rust. (unless you live in Vermont).
In fact a thin, worldwide layer of iridium exists in a layer of sediment
that was put down at the end of the Cretaceous period. That fact will not
help your pinewood derby car win any races however so The Professor Recommends
using something a little easier to deal with when adding weight to your
pinewood derby car. |
