Design Challenge: Mouse Trap Cars

Project Explanation: The challenge given was to create a car powered just by a mouse trap spring. We were supposed to make it go as far as possible.

Technological Concepts: In this project, we had to consider things such as friction and wheel sizes. Friction is the force acting between two objects that are touching and moving. Too little friction will negatively affect the car because it won't have any grip on the ground. Too much friction will slow down the car. Wheel sizes also impact the distance the car travels. A larger wheel will turn slower but for each revolution of the wheel, the car will move farther. A smaller wheel will turn very quickly but for each revolution, the car won't move as far.

Learning Goals: For this project, we wanted to learn about how different aspects of a car affect the distance it goes. Learning goals included balancing friction of the wheels and experimenting with different amounts of testing to maximize the spring potential during the actual race.

Design Brief: For our mouse trap car, we used records for the powering wheels, We decided that they would be better to use so it can go farther because even though they won't turn as fast, they can still build up momentum. We attached CDs to toy car wheels in the front. Originally we were just going to use the toy car wheels, but we had to change them because the down slope was too steep for the frame of the car. We just used wood to create the frame and a base for the mouse trap to sit on. For the lever for the string, we used a part of a hanger. We attached it to the side of the mousetrap by using duct tape. The front axle came with the toy car wheels, and the back axle we made out of dowel rod. We attached the records to the dowel rods with caps glue to the record and the rod.

Final Product!!

Positive Feedback: The car worked very well and it went 50 feet! The wheels turned well despite first thoughts that we had about the wheels would run into the body. The lever ran all the way down instead of stopping halfway. This helped the car go far since it was using all the string. Another thing that went well was the car went straight. We thought it would turn because the wheels were a little wobbly, but it actually went pretty perfectly straight. This also helped it go further.

Redesign Paragraph: Although the car went far once, it had flaws. When the string was round up twice, it didn't self start so I would have maybe cut the lever a little so it would be easier to start with still using all the string. Also, The car back wheels were a little unstable so it would have been better to glue more/ at more points to ensure that they are going to go straight. Another thing that would have been good to do is to stabilize where the body of the car was. I think this would have been beneficial because it would have made sure the body didn't run into the wheels. We could have added zip ties around the body.

Technological Resources: The project was open ended when it came to what you could use for the cars. The wood was provided for in class and other materials could be found around the house. We were only limited by what we wanted to spend to get materials. Luckily, we were able to just find everything we wanted. Information came from Lauren and myself along with some Google searches for how different styles of car worked. We had more than enough time for construction- about two weeks. The group was the main party involved with planning and construction.

Biggest Challenge: One thing that could be considered our biggest challenge was reconstruction of the car after it fell off the counter. It was not that hard to reconstruct as we just had to re-glue some areas. I think our real biggest challenge was deciding what to use for wheels because we had lots of debate of what was going to work the best for going the furthest.

What I learned: This project taught me the necessity of planning and brainstorming. Talking with Lauren about the best way to do things helped us to see each side of the argument and make informed decisions. Planning was also key because we had to be very precise when constructing the car so it would go forward. It would be bad if we cut uneven holes. In this project, thinking ahead to every detail was very vital to the operation. It also taught me to think ahead to problems that could occur so we wouldn't have to go back and fix it later due to a stupid mistake.