Patchy the Best Mousetrap Car

Record setting....

1. "Patchy" is powered by a mousetrap. The potential energy created by the spring in the mouse trap is converted to Kinetic Energy when I let the "snapper" go. I have attached a dowel to the "snapper" of the mousetrap with Duct Tape, and have attached the end of the string 8.89 cm from the top of the stick with Duct Tape. The purpose of this is to extend the lever action, therefore slowing the Kinetic Energy and lengthening the period of time it will go. The disadvantage is that I also weaken the Kinetic Energy. The other end of the string is attached to the left outside of my car on the rear axel. I pull the string taught and roll it up on the axel, spinning the wheel backwards. As I pull and roll the string I also pull the dowel and the "snapper" up, creating the potential energy. When the dowel lays flat against the car facing backward I place the car on the floor and allow it to run. By letting go of the "snapper" I am converting the potential energy to kinetic. The kinetic energy pull the string, which pulls the axel, which pulls the wheel, moving the car forward, making it work.

1
3. The biggest issue I had once the car was made was that it would run when you held it up, but it could not deal with the friction of the floor. The most relevant way I solved this problem was by shortening the length of the dowel attached to the mouse trap. My first dowel was 30.48 cm long and I had attached the string to the very end. This impaired the kinetic energy weakening my whole car enough so that it could not overcome the friction. Once I had shortened it to its current length ( 16.51 cm from the mouse trap snapper) it worked just fine because the power was enough to overcome the friction. Other ways we helped in solving this issue was by reducing the weight - drilled holes in the CDs and Record; used the drilled out bits and rug to reduce the friction on the axels.

4. The next problem we ran into was that our wheels were extremely crooked, this was solved by drilling bigger holes and gluing the rug to where we wanted the axel to go. We also closed the back of the car and added extra dowels on the sides to reenforce the sides.
5. Then our car would go until the dowel reached 90* and it would stop. We realized this was because our string had slowly been sliding up the dowel till it was 24.13 cm from the mouse trap snapper. This reduced the power of the mouse trap, making it so that it would have power up to a point and then was not able to overcome the rest. The mouse trap had the most power in those first 90* so once it reached that it was not able to pull the lever any farther.
7. The last issue that I never fixed because it came up after the competition, was that my dowel on the mousetrap snapper would rub the wheel. This could be fixed by refastening the dowel to the snapper.

3. Successful Car?
it traveled 9 meters.
1. Tips on how to maximize distance
1. Make your rear wheel as large as possible - this will maximize the surface area covered in each rotation (you only have so many rotations)
2. Make your car as light as possible without making it unsteady - this will help it overcome the friction easier
1. You can use balsa wood and light weight dowels to reenforce it
2. Make sure your Record is the lightest one you can find
3. You can drill out parts of the Wheels (be careful not to break them)
4. You can minimize the amount of body you have
5. In general find the lightest materials possible
3. Make sure your axels and wheels are straight
1. I would recommend drilling your holes straight and reenforcing them with some type of ring.
2. My axels were not quite as steady as they could have been and I believe that was one of the biggest problems in my car.
4. Try to have the longest "snapper" possible without it not working. My car is designed for distance and the longer the dowel the farther the distance.
5. You may want to add balloons or tape to the wheels depending on your surface. Just make sure there are not bumps or wrinkles
6. Make sure you use the newest mouse trap possible, try to make it without permanently gluing, drilling, etc. your mouse trap in. This way you can switch it out right before the show and have it stronger than ever!
7. Make sure you have enough weight in the front otherwise it will flip over!
8. Make sure nothing interferes with you axel or wheels.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• mouse
• trap
• car
• tips
• how
• to
• make
• best
• record
• helpful
• hints
• cds
• dowels
• string
• farthest
• school
• meters

[rhpcers]

@bitsnpieces95 haha its fine...

[bitsnpieces95]

@rhpcers cool! sorry if i annoyed you...

[rhpcers]

@bitsnpieces95 read the description...basically there is a piece of string attached to the end of a dowel which is attached the the mouse trap and the other end is attched to the rear wheel I wound the string up on the rear axel so when i let the mouse trap go it pulls the axel making the car go forward...??

[bitsnpieces95]

how does it move??