Trapping the Distance
Preliminary observation:
Before building the mousetrap racer I had to figure out a way to have the mousetrap power the racer without having much resistance. I searched around my house for things I could use as wheels. First I thought about using the tin lids off old spaghetti cans but the lids had little lips in them so that idea went into the trash. Then I went out in the garage because I knew that my mom had kept some old toys that me and my brother played with when we were little. BINGO! I found an old plastic tractor that I that I could tear the wheels and axles off But what could I put the rear axle in so it spun freely and then I remembered that I could use a piece of hollowed rod from a window blind that we were going to throw in the trash the next Tuesday. While planing in my head I thought about adding an …show more content…
Hypothesis:
I think that my car will not go very far because there will not be a lot of power, friction, and the powering wheels are not fixated to the axle. Maybe 2 meters if I get lucky. …show more content…
To get a mousetrap to power a car to move it was a lot of trial and error while staying within the guidelines. You first have to figure out how to get string, yarn, or fishing line attached to the axle so it can power the car. Now keeping it under the 60N that was easy so was keeping it under the height because adding and arm just seemed like an unwanted headache. On the first trial run my racer only went .46m because my string had broken. The next trial run went a lot better because the string didn’t break the racer had gone 2.1m. I had originally wanted to use fishing line but found it to be stiff to wind properly around the
Preliminary observation:
Before building the mousetrap racer I had to figure out a way to have the mousetrap power the racer without having much resistance. I searched around my house for things I could use as wheels. First I thought about using the tin lids off old spaghetti cans but the lids had little lips in them so that idea went into the trash. Then I went out in the garage because I knew that my mom had kept some old toys that me and my brother played with when we were little. BINGO! I found an old plastic tractor that I that I could tear the wheels and axles off But what could I put the rear axle in so it spun freely and then I remembered that I could use a piece of hollowed rod from a window blind that we were going to throw in the trash the next Tuesday. While planing in my head I thought about adding an …show more content…
Hypothesis:
I think that my car will not go very far because there will not be a lot of power, friction, and the powering wheels are not fixated to the axle. Maybe 2 meters if I get lucky. …show more content…
To get a mousetrap to power a car to move it was a lot of trial and error while staying within the guidelines. You first have to figure out how to get string, yarn, or fishing line attached to the axle so it can power the car. Now keeping it under the 60N that was easy so was keeping it under the height because adding and arm just seemed like an unwanted headache. On the first trial run my racer only went .46m because my string had broken. The next trial run went a lot better because the string didn’t break the racer had gone 2.1m. I had originally wanted to use fishing line but found it to be stiff to wind properly around the