Engineering Mousetrap Car Design Challenge With Fusion360 : 6 Steps with Pictures
Table Of Content
A basic principle that you see in everyday things like pulley systems, ramps, and car jacks. Let the mousetrap arm close it points past the front wheels. Unspool the string from the roll and cut it so it's about 2-3" past the drive wheel dowel (picture 3). Apply hot glue to the end and lay the end of the string onto it (picture 1). A mousetrap car is a toy vehicle driven by a mousetrap that has been modified to work with it. The original idea came from one of Heath Robinson’s machine sketches in the early 20th century, where he proposed using a mousetrap to power an egg beater.
Where can I find more information about mousetrap cars?
By turning the drive axle the string is wound around the drive axle causing the mouse trap's spring to compress and store energy. Once the drive axle and mouse trap are released the string is pulled from the drive axle by the mouse trap and this causes the drive wheels to rotate. In a perfect universe where there was no friction this concept would not matter so much but in our real world environment friction makes a huge difference. Heat and sound are forms of friction that will eventually absorbs all the energy from your mousetrap vehicle and cause it to come to rest. Higher rates of energy output produce more heat and sound compared to smaller energy outputs.
Learning Objectives:
A good speed-trap racer will have a very high rate of energy consumption and will be geared to use it's stored potential energy before it crosses the finish line. With all mousetrap cars the gearing is controlled by the length of the lever arm and/or the ratio of the drive axle to drive wheel set-up. There have been many mousetrap vehicle builders that have applied the concept of rotational inertial differently over the years. The basic concept is that the mouse trap's energy will be converted into the rotational energy in the flywheel and then the flywheel's rotational inertia will keep the vehicle moving.
Step 10: Ideas for Maximizing Distance
In building the mousetrap car you need to understand the basic components needed. In redesigning this mousetrap car webpage I wanted to introduce more of the educational physics aspect to mousetrap cars. My discussion is by no means completely comprehensive and that is why I suggest purchasing the Doc Fizzix’s mousetrap car book. When you’re finished with this project, you can try building more complex mousetrap car designs with the suggestions listed at the end of the article. It probably won’t go very far or fast, but you can see how stored, potential energy is converted into kinetic energy.
Step 2: Make the Drive Wheels
The car can be made from any type of cardboard, but it is best to use corrugated cardboard because it has more rigidity and strength than regular cardboard. The car has a small mousetrap on the rear axle, which is connected to the front axle with an elastic band. The elastic band is hooked to the back of the car and pulled back by hand to set it in motion.
Make sure that they’re centered so that the wheel runs in between the space on each side of the mousetrap’s metal bar. You can use glue or hot glue for this task to hold them in place. The mousetrap car is a toy that is powered by a rubber band. The rubber band is wound around the axle of the wheels, and when it is released, it propels the car forward. As you might guess, the materials used to build mousetrap-powered cars are light out of necessity.
The Doc Fizzix’s mousetrap cars use more expensive materials such as brass axles and lever arm which is better. A mousetrap car makes for a great science project, physics classroom experiment, or a fun weekend activity. Mousetrap cars are frequently used to help students learn about mechanical advantage, distance, and gravity, with many teachers turning the experiment into a long-distance challenge.
To download the Project Sheet, click on the image and then click on the download button in the lower left corner. Or, right click and open the image in a new tab, then right click and save the image. I recommend showing how to build the car step-by-step, and then use the project sheet as a reminder of the steps.
J.T. Lambert students have it down to a science - Pocono Record
J.T. Lambert students have it down to a science.
Posted: Fri, 26 Apr 2013 07:00:00 GMT [source]
How to Build the Best Mouse Trap Car
To optimize for distance, you can follow the steps we detailed above. Design a car with large rear wheels, the mousetrap as close to the front as possible, and one that has a light body. The ex-NASA Engineer is funny, goofy, but above all, really really smart. In one of his latest videos, he shows you how to make a super mousetrap powered car. The combination of hot glue, tape, and attaching the string to the underside of the arm will prevent the string from coming undone.
Slower moving mousetrap cars with smaller energy output will have less friction acting against their motion and use less energy therefor they will travel further. Longer lever arms and larger drive wheels decrease the power output. Changing the length of a mouse trap's snapper (or lever arm) is how you control a mousetrap vehicle's acceleration and/or travel distance. Different lengths of lever arms can be used to increase and/or decrease the pulling force and change the amount of string that can be pulled from the drive axle.
Run it several more times and when it goes, watch it carefully to see if you notice anything that might be hampering its performance. Once you have a good idea how the car works, see if you can design another car that can travel even farther. I made these mousetrap car plans to be used with 4-H clubs where I live in New Hampshire.
As the string unwinds, it causes the axle and attached wheels to rotate. The spinning wheels push the mousetrap car across the floor. Chassis – frame of the car to which the other components attach to.
You should now have a car that looks something like the picture. Put the car on the ground and let it go and it should start rolling away from you. It will likely take some tinkering and practice to get it to roll straight and smooth.
The faster the mousetrap vehicle moves the more air that the racer will have to push out of the way and this takes energy from the system. Design your mousetrap racer so that it can slice through the air with the least amount of resistance; design your vehicle to be aerodynamic. Try sanding and painting wood frames in order to cut down on the air resistance. Also, slow moving mousetrap vehicles will experience less friction than faster moving vehicles, design you mousetrap car to be slow moving; this can be achieved by adjusting the vehicle's gearing. Shorter lever arms have more pulling force and produce greater acceleration.
A mousetrap car is a vehicle made of wood with four wheels and a string that runs from the back axle to the front axle. When you turn the string, it causes the wheels to spin around in circles and move forward. A mousetrap car can be made from any material that can be cut into a rectangle shape. The axle should be made from something sturdy, such as a pencil or dowel rod.
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