How does a mousetrap car work explain the full process?
A mousetrap car works on the principle of a lever. One end of the lever is connected to a spring. When a force is used to pull up the other end of the lever up, the spring tightens, storing energy. When the lever is released, the stored energy in the spring is transferred back to the lever, and the end snaps back.
What is the basic design of a mousetrap car?
The most basic design for propelling a mousetrap racers is to tie one end of a string to a mouse trap’s snapper arm and then attach the other end of the string to a drive axle. By turning the drive axle the string is wound around the drive axle causing the mouse trap’s spring to compress and store energy.
What designs features help a mousetrap car travel the farthest distance?
What makes a mousetrap car go farther? Making a mousetrap car go as far as possible relies on a few guiding design principles. You’ll want to design your car to have a light body, have large rear wheels, and you’ll want to position the mousetrap as close to the front of the car as possible.
How is the mousetrap car designed so that it goes straight?
The basic concept behind the adjustable steering on our Basic II kit is to build one set of axles on a swivel that can be turned separately from the main frame of the vehicle. Small adjustments can be made to the alignment of the axles by turning the swivel in order to make sure the mousetrap racer travels straight.
What are the best materials for a mousetrap car?
A mousetrap car can be made from cardboard or balsa wood with CD’s for wheels and axles of wood or brass tubing. Power to drive the wheels is provided by a mousetrap to which a wand and string is attached to the snap arm.
What are the physics principles applied on the mousetrap car?
There are several physics principles that are taking place as the mousetrap vehicle is in motion. These include conservation of energy, newton’s laws, potential and kinetic energy, rotational inertia, friction, and torque.
What is the physics behind a mousetrap car?
The mousetrap storespotential energyin the form of the spring. That potential energy is converted into kinetic energy in the form of the arm rotating forward. The arm pulls on the wound-up string, which turns the drive wheel dowel, which is connected to the wheels, which makes the car drive forward.
How do you make a mousetrap car out of material?
What You Need:
- Wooden snap-back mousetrap.
- Duct tape.
- 4 eye hooks.
- Wooden dowel that fits inside the eye hooks.
- Heavy cardboard.
- Large and small rubber bands.
- Foam board (usually found at a craft store)
- String.
What is a mousetrap car made of?
A mousetrap car is a model car made from simple materials that is powered by a mousetrap. A mousetrap car can be made from cardboard or balsa wood with CD’s for wheels and axles of wood or brass tubing. Power to drive the wheels is provided by a mousetrap to which a wand and string is attached to the snap arm.
What is the best length for a mousetrap car?
The ideal size for an ultra big wheel on a long distance mousetrap racer seams to be somewhere between 10 and 15 inches. And the ideal size for a drive wheel on a speed-trap racer seams to be between 2 and 3 inches but no more than 4 inches.
How does weight affect mousetrap car?
Mousetrap Vehicles: Weight Distribution Weight distribution can have a large effect on a vehicles performance, if the weight of a vehicle is concentrated to far away from the drive wheels there may be a greater tendency for slippage at the start line.
What two types of friction affect a mousetrap car?
This energy is used to overcome friction and propel the vehicle. The less friction acting against a moving mousetrap car, the less energy that is consumed to friction and the further that the vehicle will travel. A moving mousetrap car is affected by two type of friction: airfriction and bearing friction.
How do you make a mousetrap car go faster and further?
friction. Similar to weight, reducing your vehicle’s friction will both increase speed and distance. This is because by reducing the friction of your vehicle, the amount of energy that is wasted into heat is reduced, allowing your vehicle to utilize that extra energy to travel faster and further.
How do you build a mousetrap car?
Build a Mousetrap Car
- Step 1: Materials. 2 pieces of Cardboard (4” x 10”) many dimensions will work, but this is a good starting place.
- Step 2: Car Body.
- Step 3: Attach the Straws.
- Step 4: The Mousetrap.
- Step 5: Preparing the Wheels.
- Step 6: Adding the Axles and Wheels.
- Step 7: Attaching the Hook to the Rear Axle.