Chem-E-Car

Today was the UKM level Chem-E-Car competition to chose candidates for the National Level competition on the 14th of January in UM. Whichever team wins the National Level will be representing Malaysia to the annual Chem-E-Car competition this year.
Last year UKM was Malaysia's representative and they won 5th place in the International level. Thus, this year there are many who wish to follow the succesful footsteps of their predecesors.

Eventhough I have officially resigned from UKM last week, I've decided to come and be part of this competition.. and what an exciting day it's been. Initially I have already been in the committee organizing this University level competition and the others thought that it would be a shame if all I didn't get a chance to experience the actual event. So I came to help out, and it's so much fun.. I'm glad I came (though I forgot my camera :( )
Anyway, some of you reading this might be at loss.. what is this Chem-E-Car competition about?
For one it's a competition where all Chemical engineers should feel excited about.. a competition, held for undergraduate students (I'm definitely over-qualified up to the point that I'm not qualified.. heheh) to design a car which runs on chemical reactions. Of course at this level we're not dealing with the full sized car, just a miniture model of one. The students are required to design and construct a car that is powered with a chemical energy source that will carry a certain load to a given distance and stop. The car will be judged based on the combination of completion of a defined task, design creativity and issues related to safety, environment and health as the model car handles chemical fuel.
This event is organised by the Chemical Engineering Technical Division of the Institution of Engineers, Malaysia and began it's first year in 2004. The competition of each category consists of 2 sessions, which are poster presentation and model car performance competition.
Dealing with chemicals, you can be sure to expect many types of creative designs by the students. Most of the cars today uses the electrode-electrolyte-electrode design mostly used in batteries. The only difference is based on what electrodes and electrolytes they used. Other designs includes pressure propulsions to push the car forward but with this design it is very important that the pressure chamber is properly sealed.. leakages might cause the failure of motion to the model car. And that it exactly what happend to one group. During their test-runs their rubber sealer broke and they couldn't get a replacement in time for this competition. So they were forefitted for the competition, they joined only for the poster session and got partial points only.
It was so exciting to see the cars move and stop just within the distance limit carrying the specified load. For todays competition the judges have set 30 minits prior to the competition that the car should carry a load of 300g and move a distance of less than 15 meters. A few cars wents out of the course but most was within the limit.
The competition only lasted a few minutes but you can see the great deal of effort put into it by the contestants. It took the judges more than 30 minutes to decide the winning rank.
I enjoyed the day so much, it made me wish that I'm part of the contestants. Why didn't we have this competition when I was an undergrad? Oh well..