A heavier car requires a bigger engine, stronger brakes, and so on, so the reducing the weight of the body or other components has a ripple effect that produces additional weight savings. The DOE is pushing for the development of lightweight structural materials that match the safety of today’s conventional steel panels but also can be made cheaply enough to potentially replace steel altogether in standard vehicles.
Composites made from carbon fibers are not a new idea, but so far in the automotive world they have only been used in a few very expensive models. The new research aims to turn that around by providing a low-cost starting material and relatively simple processing methods.
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
