Running on Three Wheels


An experiment about the moment of inertia of the wheels.

All pinewood derby competitions require a car to have 4 wheels...but often they don’t require that these wheels actually touch the race track. Is there any advantage to lifting a wheel off the track? If lifting one wheel off the track, how about lifting **two** wheels off the track? We look at this issue in detail, using Moment of Inertia calculations, through computer simulations.
Running a car with three wheels.
Running a car with two wheels.