Mousetrap Race Car

Description

Teams will compete to build a vehicle powered only by the stored energy of the spring of a single mousetrap that is able to travel a set distance in the shortest time.

Competition

Each team will build a vehicle whose sole source of mechanical power is the spring of a single standard mousetrap. The spring must be the only source of store energy for the vehicle -- no batteries or electricity will be allowed, nor should elastic or rubber bands be used in place of string, fishing line or wire. After the device has been prepared, it will be placed up against a starting gate.  The gate will swing away quickly, allowing the car to proceed down the track.

Each car will have two runs down the track.  The total time will be the sum of the two times.

Other Information

A number of different mousetrap race car kits are offered by Pittsco at www.shop-pitsco.com.  The completed race car must be able to fit into a standard copy paper box.

Each team should bring a logbook with them outlining the construction and testing of the device in preparation for the event.  Dates and times should be noted in the book.  Data, data tables, and sketches will be typical entries.  Information should be entered at the time noted in the book: summarizing what was done hours, days or weeks after the actual experiment is very poor scientific practice.

(Logbook example:  October 17, 2005, 3:30 P.M.  Our race car has been veering to the left.  We tried adjusting the back axle to straighten the path.  It didn't help.)

Teams will be ranked based on total time for two runs, with the shortest total time given the highest ranking.  Teams without logbooks will be ranked after teams with logbooks.  The quality of logbook entries may be used by judges to shift the ranking of a team up or down by no more than two rankings.