The Chem-E-Car Competition is an annual college competition for students majoring in

Chemical Engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of the operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials ...

. According to the competition's official rules, students must design small-scale

automobile A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...

s that operate by

chemical A chemical substance is a unique form of matter with constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Chemical substances may take the form of a single element or chemical compounds. If two or more chemical substances can be combin ...

means, along with a poster describing their research. During the competition, they must drive their car a fixed distance (judged on how close the car is to the finish line) down a wedge-shaped course in order to demonstrate its capabilities. The exact distance (15-30 meters) and payload is revealed to the participants one hour before the competition. The size of designed cars cannot exceed certain specifications and cars must operate using "

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...

" methods, which do not release any pollution or waste in the form of a visible liquid or gas, such as

exhaust Exhaust, exhaustive, or exhaustion may refer to: Law * Exhaustion of intellectual property rights, limits to intellectual property rights in patent and copyright law ** Exhaustion doctrine, in patent law ** Exhaustion doctrine under U.S. law, i ...

. The dimensions of the car are to be within 20x30x40 cm. This competition is hosted in the United States by the AIChE (

American Institute of Chemical Engineers The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) is a professional organization for chemical engineers. AIChE was established in 1908 to distinguish chemical engineers as professionals independent of chemists and mechanical engineers. Curr ...

), and winners of the competitions receive various awards, depending on how they placed.Chem-E-Car Official Rules 2014
American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

Awards

Regional Competition Awards (funded by AIChE)

:Poster Competition :*Ribbons for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place :*Ribbon for Most Creative Drive System :*Ribbon for Most Creative Vehicle Design :Performance Competition :*1st place: $200 and Ribbon :*2nd place: $100 and Ribbon :*3rd place: Honorable mention and Ribbon :*Ribbons for 4th and 5th place finishers :*Ribbon for Spirit of Competition

National Competition Awards (funded by Chevron)

* 1st place: $2,000 and a trophy. * 2nd place: $1,000 and a trophy. * 3rd place: $500 and a trophy. * Best Use of a Biological Reaction to Power a Car - $1,000 Prize: Sponsored by the Society for Biological Engineering * SAChE Safety Award for the best application of the principles of chemical process safety to the Chem-E-Car competition. * Most Consistent Performance - This award is based on the best average score for the two runs that the vehicle makes. It has been created to recognize the team that has designed and most understands the performance of the reaction that powers the vehicle. Award consists of a plaque. * Spirit of the Competition - This award is given to the team displaying the most team spirit as decided by a panel of judges. Award consists of a plaque. * Most Creative Drive System - Recognition is awarded to the team that has designed and installed the most creative propulsion system. The winner is decided by a panel of judges during the poster competition. Award consists of a plaque. * Golden Tire Award - In 2002, Northeastern University team members created this award to recognize the team with the most creative vehicle design. The national committee has adopted this as an annual award. The winning entry is decided by a ballot cast by each team entered in the competition. Award consists of a plaque.

Past National Performance Competition Winners

*2024 -

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

*2023 -

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 26,800 undergraduate students, over 6,100 post-graduate students, and a tota ...

*2022 -

University of Toledo The University of Toledo (UToledo or UT) is a Public university, public research university in Toledo, Ohio, United States. It is the northernmost campus of the University System of Ohio. The university also operates a Health Science campus, ...

*2021 -

*2020 -

Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

*2019 -

*2018 -

Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public university, public research university and Institute of technology (United States), institute of technology in Atlanta, ...

*2017 - Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember *2016 - Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) *2015 –

and

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

(tie) *2014 -

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

*2013 -

University of Tulsa The University of Tulsa (TU) is a Private university, private research university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has a historic affiliation with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Presbyterian Church, although it is now nondenominational, and the campus ...

*2012 –

*2011 –

University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez The University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus (UPRM) or Recinto Universitario de Mayagüez (RUM) in Spanish (also referred to as Colegio and CAAM in allusion to its former name), is a Public university, public land-grant university in Mayagüez ...

*2010 –

*2009 –

Northeastern University Northeastern University (NU or NEU) is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was founded by the Boston Young Men's Christian Association in 1898 as an all-male instit ...

*2008 –

*2007 –

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, commonly known as Cooper Union, is a private college on Cooper Square in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-s ...

*2006 –

*2005 – Tennessee Tech University *2004 –

*2003 –

University of Dayton The University of Dayton (UD) is a Private university, private, Catholic research university in Dayton, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1850 by the Society of Mary (Marianists), Society of Mary, it is one of three Marianist universities in the U ...

*2002 – University of Kentucky, Paducah *2001 –

Colorado State University Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado, United States. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University Syst ...

*2000 –

University of Akron The University of Akron is a public university, public research university in Akron, Ohio, United States. It is part of the University System of Ohio. As a STEM fields, STEM-focused institution, it focuses on industries such as polymers, advance ...

*1999 –

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

Rules

The competition has various rules: * The only energy source for the propulsion of the car is a chemical reaction. No liquid discharge is allowed. No obnoxious odor discharge is allowed. * No commercial batteries are allowed as the power source. * The stopping mechanism has to be controlled by a chemical reaction. No brakes, mechanical or electronic timing devices are allowed. * All components of the car must fit into a box of dimensions no larger than 40 cm x 30 cm x 20 cm (shoebox-sized). The car may be disassembled to meet this requirement. * The cost of the contents of the "shoe box" and the chemicals must not exceed $2,000. The vehicle cost includes the donated cost of any equipment. The time donated by university machine shops and other personnel will not be included in the total price of the car. It is expected that every university has equal access to these resources. The cost of pressure testing is also not included in the capital cost of the car.

Poster

Each car is required to have a poster board explaining how the car runs (power source), some of its specific features, and how it is environmentally friendly. Judges score these posters on four different things: the description of the chemical reaction and power source (20%), the creativity of the design and its unique features (20%), environment and safety features (40%), and the overall quality of the poster, along with the team's presentation (20%). Only posters judged with a score of 70% or above may move on to the performance competition.

Example reactions

Some ideas for chemical reactions have been using pressurized air (creating oxygen through a chemical reaction and allowing it to build pressure) or using electricity created by the dissolving of metals in certain acids (basic battery). One pedantic idea by Cooper Union was to use a

fuel cell A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy of a fuel (often hydrogen fuel, hydrogen) and an oxidizing agent (often oxygen) into electricity through a pair of redox reactions. Fuel cells are different from most bat ...

(a cell that converts fuel to electricity via an electrochemical reaction) to power their car. Winners in this competition are not determined by whether their car is faster or more powerful, but how accurate their chemical reaction to stop their vehicle is. This is quite difficult, especially when the distance the car has to travel is unknown until the day of the competition. So teams must find a method that is flexible enough to fit a range of distances, and reliable enough so it does not fail with real world variables (

temperature Temperature is a physical quantity that quantitatively expresses the attribute of hotness or coldness. Temperature is measurement, measured with a thermometer. It reflects the average kinetic energy of the vibrating and colliding atoms making ...

humidity Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation (meteorology), precipitation, dew, or fog t ...

, track roughness, changes in elevation, etc.). Winners in the past have had a variety of ways of dealing with this problem, such as an iodine clock reaction.ChemE car Zapdos takes first place at nationals
Cornell Chronicle, Cornell University. This reaction works by using two clear

solution Solution may refer to: * Solution (chemistry), a mixture where one substance is dissolved in another * Solution (equation), in mathematics ** Numerical solution, in numerical analysis, approximate solutions within specified error bounds * Solu ...

s (many variations) that change color after a time delay (the exact time can be found experimentally). When applied to the car, the team used a simple

image sensor An image sensor or imager is a sensor that detects and conveys information used to form an image. It does so by converting the variable attenuation of light waves (as they refraction, pass through or reflection (physics), reflect off objects) into s ...

that could tell when the solutions changed color, at which point the cars power would shut off by cutting the circuit."Chem E Car Video"
/ref> While the process itself is somewhat simple, accounting for the unknown variables like the payload and distance is quite difficult.

References

External links

* {{official website, https://www.aiche.org/community/students/chem-e-car * https://www.aiche.org/topics/students/chem-e-car Science competitions