Mousetrap Car Design Challenge

Project Explanation:
For this project, my partner and I had to design and build a vehicle that would be powered by the snapping of a mousetrap. We had to make the vehicle be able to travel as far of a distance as possible.

Technological Concepts:
The vehicle's chassis (frame) had to be sturdly constructed. The wheels needed to spin as freely and smoothly as possible, minimizing friction and maximizing inertia.

Learning Goals:
I wanted to find out what kind of body would be the most effective for this project. There are many different sizes and types of possible wheels, and they could all work in different ways. I also wanted to confirm if a small, medium, or large-sized vehicle would travel farther than the others.

Our Project:

We designed our mousetrap vehicle in a conventional way, but it was also very effective.Our vehicle was a little less than a foot long, and we used CD's for the wheels. The mousetrap rod was between a small and medium length. In our testing and also the final tests, the vehicle traveled quite nicely. The farthest distance traveled was 57 feet. We found that the way we wound the string on the dowel rod had a great effect on how far the vehicle went; we had to condense the string really tight and on top of itself as much as possible.

Positive Feedback:
Overall, we were very happy with our mousetrap vehicle design. It was one of the top performing vehicles in our hour. It had a sturdy structure, being stable and not wheeling to the side during tests. Also, we were proud of its aesthetics. The vehicle had colorful accents, and it was a nice-looking project.

Redesign:
If we had to redesign our vehicle, I would have tried to explore more different structures that we could  build. Even though our flat, medium-sized car worked very well, would we have been able to get the same distance with a smaller vehicle? What about a larger vehicle? Also, I would explore with different types of wheels.

Technological Resources:
We used materials from our houses, including a clothing hanger and CD's. We used machinery to cut and sand wood pieces for the sides of the vehicle. Also, we did very well with time on this project, not finishing it very late

Biggest Challenge:
The biggest challenge for me was putting all of the pieces together to make one whole project. I had never used the machinery before, too, so that was something I had to get used to. So many different parts came together to make our mousetrap vehicle.

What I Learned:
I think that from this challenge, I learned that simpler is better. We made a standard-looking vehicle, with standard CD's, but we payed close attention to the way that the string was wounded, and that helped. So, the focus should be on the dynamics and movement of the vehicle, not just its parts, like wheels and such.