As a required part of my physics course at high school, I have to make a car that runs only off of a mouse trap. I have done a little research on the web, but could anyone give some little pointers, like the best materials or best mouse trap brand to use? Thanks, and when I get it built, I will post some pics up here. (Should it have bloo LED underglows? ) - tf
I did one years ago. I used AOL Cds for the wheels and bent coat hangers for the frame. Glue it together and it pwned i think.
what were the exact requirements? you can just catapult the car using the mousetrap to fling it - it'll go farther than any of the conventional models
I'd use some wheels that have rubber tread, because that mousetrap will have some good power, but it would last for about a second. i'd have the mousetrap as the frame, with the trigger pad facing forward. a nail sticking perpendicular to the axel will be what connects the axel to the traps killing part tie one end of a long enough string to the killing part and a loop on the other. loop the loop over the nail on the axel, and roll the wheels backwards until the string is taught. you might need a counterweight on the front to keep the wheelie down or to prevent flipping. a small ziploc baggie with a carefully measured amount of sand. you dont want any more than needed!!!11!! maybe more weight will make it go farther, more momentum and all that. try an "expermient" (thats science talk for screwing around when you have nothing better to do)
if there isn't a size or issued smousetrap, google the biggest one you can find, use a garage door spring for power!
You could attach a small rope/wire to the swing arm of the trap, and have string wrapped around an axel for the car, so as the arm swings, it pulls the string and rotates the wheels....
thats like what i was describing, but the trap would be turned around and the brown string directly turning the axel are you sure CD's would work? that mousetrap will give it one hell of an acceleration, i would think CD's would spin a bit before the car moved. would be a set of bitchin' sprewells though if you do use CD's, burn a couple fast songs on each "wheel" maybe that will help you go faster
won't that extra pass around the axle make extra friction? to make the cord detatch from the axle, just wrap it one or two turns around itself... using ballbearings on the axles might help a bit aswell...
Could try messing about with gearing (ie wrap the string round a bigger cylinder attached to the axle)
actually, friction is a good thing in this case. the trap gives all it's energy at once, if the wheels or string slide, you lose energy. what you need is a light weight car, but you also need it to have good traction. if I was in your place, I would put in a few main features: -front wheel drive. try putting the power in the back wheels and your car will flip over so fast you'll never know what hit you. -in fact, make the car have 3 axels. 2 large center wheels, one in the front and one in the back. make these wheels smaller or higher, so that only 3 wheels are on the surface at all times. -make the center wheels heavy. not only will this give good traction, but it will make them spin longer. just like the little weight in those toys that you push and they keep going. -try putting as much of the weight from the trap as possible on the center wheels, for better traction. -make the back and front wheels have very little traction. they are only there so that the car won't flip. -don't use a string, use something flat, it doesn't tangle and has more friction -the moving part of your trap can pull around 20cm of string, attach something to it, like a metal ruler, and you make that 60. -whatever you do, don't tie the string at the end.
front wheel drive? if the mouse trap pulls the wheels around with too much force they will spin on the floor and waste alot of power... there is a reason for high peformance cars to have rear wheel drive... make a wheelie bar instead.. could look cool aswell
like it or not, the wheels WILL spin on the floor. only way to minimize or use that is heavy wheels that will preserve this momentum.
umm ya ok so the pic that I posted, the string is put around the rear axle. You put only enough string for the pole to go straight out. Any more is overkill. The two mousetraps is the deciding force to give you torque or "pulling power". Tip: if you put rubber cement around the cd's they will grip well on any surface.
You are only allowed to use one mouse trap. One great idea that has come to me over the last few days is about a "transmission" that is completely passive. Basically, the part of the axel that the string would wrap around could be made to be a cone. When the string would first start to unwind, it would be on the wide part of the axel. As the car gained momentum, it would taper down until the string is at its peak efficiency. Ingenious, no? Also, to avoid friction, ball bearings, or something like that, would be used on everything. And, to make sure that the CD wheels do not slip, the edges would be burred / ridged with a dremel. It would either be made to look like a saw or just have some rough edges. By the way, no progress will be made on this in the next two days. My high school bnad will be going to the state competition in San Antonio, so mark me out of town. Then I have finals. After that, project mouse trap car is a go! Thanks for the input so far. - tf
I did one of these a few years ago. I had a really excellent website, but I can't find the URL. You don't need a system like penski described (though it might even work better). You can just glue the string to the back axle, wind it up tight and when the mouse trap is let go, the wheels spin. We raced them in class to see whos went the furthest. IIRC correctly, the winning car used the system I described, using two CDs on the front axle and two records (45's?) on the back axle.
