The Mousetrap Car ProjectThe Mousetrap Car ProjectFor this module the students will
design and build mouse trap cars, test them and do calculations of speed,
acceleration, and distance. Only
the mousetrap provided can be used to power the cars, absolutely no other
propulsion method should be used including rubber bands. Mousetraps are used to power the
vehicles by attaching a string to the arm of the trap and then wound around the
axel. Experimenting with size and
length of all parts on the vehicle should be encouraged. There will be two
measured competitions, speed and distance, and at the end there will also be a
competition on the class’s favorite car judged by an anonymous vote. The vehicle must function correctly to
win the unique competition. After the competitions, calculations will be made
for speed, acceleration, and distance.
This module is broken up into four
sections. Section 1 explains
the principals of speed and acceleration and their effect on the distance the car
will travel. After students have a basic understanding of these principals,
project proposal for the mousetrap cars will be given. There will be a contest
for speed and distance. Everyone will use a standard supplied mousetrap,
nothing else including rubber bands, to power their car. A unique car will be
designed and built from almost anything imaginable. Wood dowel for the axles
will be supplied. Students will be encouraged to bring supplies from home. In Section 2, there will be time for
construction and experimentation of the mousetrap cars. Documentation will be
required of all ideas in their engineering journal. In Section 3, there will be time and distance trials and
instruction on how to do calculations for the mousetrap cars. There will also
be discussion on how they could make their cars go further and go faster. In Section 4, time should be allowed to
make improvements and do non-competitive time trials, and finish up their
documentation and written report.
The link below contains the projects supporting materials in pdf format.
This version of the mousetrap cars project was created by
