Students investigate how chemistry can shape cleaner transportation by designing and testing a future car that balances performance, cost, and environmental impact. Across six weeks, they use models of atomic structure, bonding, reaction energy, and stoichiometry to justify material choices, explain the chemical reaction or energy system that powers their prototype, and analyze how CO2 emissions contribute to water acidification. Through ongoing reflection, peer critique, and collaboration with automotive and environmental partners, students revise their ideas for a public showcase and Future Auto Expo where they communicate evidence-based solutions for reducing a car’s carbon footprint.

Students will explain how atomic structure, valence electrons, bonding, and intermolecular forces influence the properties of materials and fuels used in car design, using models, formulas, and the Periodic Table to justify choices. They will investigate and compare chemical reactions that could power a future car, including energy changes, conservation of mass, mole relationships, and percent composition, and use evidence to evaluate efficiency, safety, cost, and environmental impact. Students will model how CO2 emissions contribute to water acidification and communicate how alternative car designs can reduce harm to ecosystems through prototypes, peer critique, reflection wall posts, and a public expo presentation.

Teams will create a sequence of products across the six weeks: a concept sketch and materials-testing log for the car body, a chemical energy model with balanced reactions and annotated particle/atom diagrams, and a CO2-acidification investigation display that connects emissions to water quality impacts. They will also maintain reflection wall posts, peer critique notes, and revision records after each two-week checkpoint to document design changes and scientific reasoning. The final products will be a prototype or scale model of a future car powered by a chosen system, a digital presentation explaining material choices, bonding and reaction evidence, and environmental tradeoffs, and a public-facing exhibit for the Future Auto Expo and community showcase. Younger students can use labeled models, photos, and oral explanations, while older students add formulas, stoichiometric calculations, and comparative emissions data.

Open with a “Future Auto Challenge” gallery walk featuring a local vehicle expert, images or parts from traditional and alternative-fuel cars, and a short water acidification demo showing how added CO2 changes pH. Students then test a few sample body materials for weight, strength, and cost, and examine simple models of fuel reactions to begin asking how material choice and chemical energy affect performance and environmental impact. End the launch with teams posting first ideas and questions on the reflection wall tied to the essential questions, then introducing the 2-week design checkpoints, weekly peer critique routine, and the goal of presenting at the Future Auto Expo and community showcase.

End with a “Future Auto Expo” where teams display their car prototypes, materials test data, balanced chemical reaction models, and water-acidification investigations in a public gallery format. Students should give short presentations and demonstrations to families, peers, local automotive professionals, and environmental partners, explaining how their design choices affect performance, cost, energy production, and carbon impact. Include interactive stations where visitors can compare material samples, review digital design slides, and ask questions about emissions, CO2, and sustainable fuel options. Close with a community feedback protocol in which guests leave comments and questions that students use in a final reflection on their design process and scientific learning.