Demonstration of Critical Thinking, Problem Solving and Effective Communication Skills
Mouse Trap Car
The purpose of this lab was to devise a vehicle powered by a mousetrap to compete with our classmates. Each car was to be built from scratch and must have the ability to travel at least 2-3 meters. The contraption that traveled the furthest and the one witch traveled the quickest was awarded. The movement of the vehicle reflected the basic laws of the conservation of energy, inertia and friction.
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Materials:
- 1 thin Board - 1 Mouse Trap - 1 wire/lever - 1 piece of string - 2 thick Boards - 2 long screws - 4-8 CD's - 8 nuts and bolts |
After many hours experimenting we realized that by changing the size of the axel you can speed-up or slow-down your mousetrap vehicle, the larger diameter of the axel the greater the speed.
We also figured out that by placing the string in the mid range of our wire/lever the mouse trap car would run smother and faster with more ease and not having it on the tip like we had predicted. ...and with the combination of these two things the mousetrap vehicle travels a super distance at a great speed, we did not get the fastest car but we did receive the longest distance award. |