Mousetrap Cars

What are Mousetrap cars?

Mousetrap cars are vehicles that are powered by a mousetrap through a pully-based system that spins the front axel. Our project was the design one that was built for distance. In the lab, students used wooden pieces, bottle caps, wooden dowels, CDs and string to construct their cars. There are many different ways to make mousetrap cars; it seems as if the designs are almost limitless.

What were the technological concepts?

• Gravity
• Simple machines
• Friction
• Force
• Mass
• Intertia
• Velocity
• Energy (Kinetic, potential, mechanical, elastic)

What were the learning goals?

• Working in a group
• Problem-solving
• Building a mousetrap car designed for distance
• Testing and rebuilding  

What was our project like?

Our mousetrap car had two variations. Our first design only managed to run from two inches to two feet at most. It was long and heavy. The axels also provided a lot of unwanted friction. Our second car had a smaller chassis with thinner axels as well. We removed a lot of weight and got rid of our friction problem as well. We also changed the twine to a lighter fishing line. Our new car can go up to 45ft. 

Positive Feedback

Overall, I  think our car was a success. we managed to get over the 20-30ft goal and we built a decent looking model. It's small and lightweight, allowing it to travel a greater distance then our original design would have been able to. It's also fairly easy to set up with the nail we put into the front axel. 

Redesign

Looking back, if I had to change something about the car, I would make it even more lightweight. We could have constructed a frame out of straws or small dowels to create almost no drag from the size. I also would have reduced the friction we had in the axels by using a different material such as metal or even a thin plastic. 

Technological Resources

We had to change quite a few things to get from our first design to our second design. First, we used the miter saw to change the size of the chassis. This reduced the weight of the car. We also changed the type of string we were using to fishing line instead of the yarn. We also changed the size of the dowel we used to a thinner one that was also more lightweight. 

What was the biggest challenge?

Our biggest challenge was to figure out an effective redesign for our car. We had to do a lot of brainstorming to think of an effective design that would go further. We also had to scrap a lot of our good ideas that we had thought of in the first design, which was a little disappointing because they could have been really useful. 

What did we learn?

I learned that sometimes, you have to build, test, and rebuild over and over to get an effective solution to a problem. You can't just quit something because it's frustrating. The best thing you can do when faced with a problem is to keep trying to improve it, even if it seems like whatever you do won't work.