Chem car contest for engineering students like Super Bowl

A judge indicates the start position to Mohammed Rahman and Weida Zhang of Stony Brook University at the Chem-E-Car Competition in San Francisco, Calif. on Sunday, Nov. 3, 2013. A judge indicates the start position to Mohammed Rahman and Weida Zhang of Stony Brook University at the Chem-E-Car Competition in San Francisco, Calif. on Sunday, Nov. 3, 2013. Photo: Raphael Kluzniok, The Chronicle Photo: Raphael Kluzniok, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 8 Caption Close Chem car contest for engineering students like Super Bowl 1 / 8 Back to Gallery

(11-03) 17:44 PST -- It was Super Sunday for more than 30 U.S. college teams and a handful of international competitors. The field was a wooden parquet floor instead of Astroturf. The protective gear involved eye glasses and lab coats. And the battle was about brains, not brawn.

Hundreds of chemical engineering students - including some from UC Berkeley and San Jose State - spent Sunday afternoon in San Francisco mixing chemicals, checking circuits, and watching anxiously as their small cars, powered by alternative fuel, sped or sputtered toward the finish line.

It was the 15th annual National Chem-E-Car collegiate competition, testing students' knowledge of how innovative fuels can power a shoe-box-size car for a specified distance.

Right before the start of the competition, held in a ballroom of the Hilton Hotel on Union Square, students were told the weight their cars would have to carry (250 milliliters of water), and the distance the vehicles would need to travel (57.41 feet). The goal was to get the autonomous car as close to the end line as possible without going over.

"We made aluminum batteries with manganese dioxide," said junior Christine Codignotto of the team from Cornell University, which won last year's competition with a zinc air battery-powered car called Zapdos.

Students from the University of Tulsa built a car with an 8-cell battery with magnesium and manganese dioxide, a renewable power source, a gear box taken from a model car, and a frame with wheels and axles built out of purchased parts.

"We think it's going to do well," said University of Tulsa student Weston Kightlinger. "But we have good days and bad days. Today feels like a good day."

Near the end of the nearly three-hour competition, a car made by a team from the New Jersey Institute of Technology drew attention for its loudness - and smoke.

"That smells like nitromethane," frowned Professor James Smith, one of event's four rules advisers and a professor of chemical and materials engineering at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Cars that smoke, drip, emit or combust are disqualified. Creativity is encouraged, he noted, but violent reactions are definitely discouraged.

"We're all about safety," said Smith, pointing out the plastic covered floors, and students in lab coats, latex gloves, and eye wear. Stanford University students organized the safe disposal of all chemicals.

Professor Cliff Henderson, with the school of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, said the event is about "team building and working collaboratively." It's also a chance for students to apply what they're learning in the classroom to real-world problems such as energy.

Henderson said his students' car works without producing any chemical waste, and is powered by an electric motor powered by a lead acid battery system. The distance it traveled was controlled by using the darkening of a photochromic lens, like those used in prescription or sunglasses.

Henderson explained: "An ultraviolet light on the car is used to expose the lens and cause the photochromic reaction to darken the lens. A green light is shined on the lens and a photodetector behind the lens measures the amount of green light passing through the lens. Once the lens darkens enough that the green light passing through the lens dims below a set value, an electronic circuit shuts off power to the motor to stop the car."

The photochromic reaction is "reversible and reusable," Henderson said.

Students reached the nationals by placing in regional competitions, with all events organized by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. The spending limit for each team was $2,000, and the winning team is awarded a $2,000 prize. Special recognition goes to cars that are biologically powered, such as by lemons or beef liver enzymes.

As the winning teams were announced and cheers rang out, Henderson, the professor from Georgia Institute of Technology, smiled and said, "This is the equivalent of football teams competing against other schools. There's a lot of pride in their own school efforts."

It turned out to be a good day for the University of Tulsa. That team won first place, thanks to its gear box and 8-cell battery.