Mousetrap Cars

Physics2012-20132nd Quarter Project

Objective:

Each team (of no more than two students) is to produce one vehicle powered by a Victor brand mousetrap. The vehicle is to travel8 metersin the fastest time possible.

Rules:

1. You must use ONE Victor Brand mousetrap. You cannot use a “have-a-heart” trap – it won’t work! (If you do not use a Victor Brand mousetrap you will receive a zero!!)

2. The mousetrap must be the sole power source – with the spring attached as originally manufactured. The trap must operate in its intended way, therefore you are not permitted to cut the base, snapping arm, spring or release. You are not permitted to change the spring or add any other energy source to the trap (or the rest of the car).

3. The mousetrap must be and remain a part of the traveling car. All parts of the vehicle must remain attached and travel the 8.0-m with the body of the car.

4. NO alternate power sources may be used. (This includes (but is NOT limited to)elastic objects, rubber bands*note, additional springs, motors, magnets, string, wind, explosives, actual living mice, etc.)

5. The mousetrap car must be self-starting, meaning no push or pull starts of any sort will be allowed. The vehicle must be started (with the front tires touching the tape at the starting line on the level floor) by releasing the mousetrap spring in a manner that imparts no additional energy. YOU MUST release the trap by touching a pencil/stick to the trigger. You will not be permitted to hand release the trap – it must be set and triggered. (Failure to properly activate the car in this manner will result in a zero!)!

6.The car must conform to the following maximum dimensions (when in the ready position):

Length = 15.2 cm (6.0 inches)

Width = 31.8 cm (12.50 inches)

In other words, it must fit into a shoebox with the above dimensions WITHOUT THE LID.
You are to imagine that the sides of the box extend vertically infinitely. No part of your device may extend/lean beyond the length or width dimensions!

7. The cars will be constructed outside of class. NO class time will be used for design or construction (although we will do a related lab). The track, however, will be set up ahead of time so that teams can bring their cars in early for trail runs. Trail runs will NOT count toward a grade. Once official testing begins in a class, no other cars in that class may practice.

8. NO Mousetrap Car KITS are to be used to construct your vehicle. If kit parts are used you will be disqualified and receive a (non-droppable) zero.

9. NO CD (or CD-like) wheels! That means no DVDs, blue rays, game disks, mini disks, or the plastic things that come in a stack of burnable CDs or DVDs. Records (vinyl) are not CD like…yes they are round and they play music but they are very different from CDs.

10. NO CARS FROM PREVIOUS YEARS are to be used. This includes cars that YOU BUILT for projects in middle school, scouts or anything else. You need to build a new and unique car just for this project! You will earn a zero for reusing a car!
11.NO ILLEGAL SCHOOL MATERIALS! This includes but is not limited to: balloons or any other latex,no knives, explosives, any alcohol or tobacco logos, or anything else prohibited by the student handbook.

12. On due dates, your car must be in school whether you are or not!

NOTE – you are not banned from using rubber bands for this project; HOWEVER, they can NOT be used as a source of energy for propulsion.
Disqualifications

  • Your group WILL be disqualified and will receive a ZERO!
  • The car does not meet “ready position” specifications.
  • Any of the above-mentioned rules have been bent or broken. READ THE RULES!!!!
    You don’t need to ask your teacher about something that is already discussed in the rules –
    just follow the rules!
  • Any mousetrap car kits or kit parts are used.
  • Any CD or “CD-like” wheels (see rule #9) are used.
  • Any “old” cars are used (see rule #10) .
  • Your vehicle is NOT completed in the spirit of the competition.
  • A rat trap or any unauthorized mouse trap is used.
  • A car is submitted LATE. Your car must be here on all of the due dates…whether you are or not!
  • A vehicle that does not travel at least 1.0m on race day.
  • Cheating will not be tolerated.
    If your final car does not resemble, in engineering design or in style, your preliminary car you will receive a zero.
    If you sabotage someone else’s car you will receive a zero.
    If you push your car at the start line, you will receive a zero.
  • Mrs. Klein, Mr. Bruening and/or Mrs. McGrath have the right to disqualify any car that is not completed within the spirit of the competition.

Due dates and testing:

Date 1 –Preliminary Test On Monday, December 17, 2012 you must have the following:

A - Your WORKING CAR must travel at least 3.0-meters on this date!
B - A ONE PAGE PAPER that includes the following items: (1) Two photos of your car (a side view and a top view) digitally imported into the document. The two photos (together) should take up 1/3 to 1/2 of the page. (2) A description of the research that you have done for this project and how it helped you design your vehicle. The description is to be 100 words or less (10 point Ariel or Times New Roman font single or 1.5 spaced) and is to include references (web addresses, book citations, names of people consulted). This is to be one page TOTAL! Don’t just list your references….indicate what you learned and how it influenced your design.
The preliminary test and paper will count as an independent grade.

Date 2 – Impound  On Monday, January 7, 2013you can work on your car and practice during class but the device MUST be impounded by the end of your class period. The class in which you impound your device is the class in which it will be tested.
You ARE permitted to modify your preliminary vehicle; however, the original design must be evident in your modifications! You cannot completely scrap the first car design. It is NOT to your advantage to build a total piece of junk just to meet the preliminary requirements then copy what someone else has done – this could get you completely disqualified on testing day.
It is at the teacher’s discretion whether a car has been submitted that is a copy of another group’s car. Anything questionable will be called to the table and may result in zero credit for this project. Plagiarism applies to all forms of assessment not just writing papers – if you copy someone else’s work it is cheating.
Date 3 – Race Day On Tuesday, January 8, 2013 you will have the class period to complete three (3) runs. Your grade will be based off of the best of those three runs. If you do not complete 3 runs within the class period that the car was impounded then you will take the best score of the runs that were completed. You will not get extra time to complete the runs.

For all of the above dates a racing area will be marked off. The track will be 8 meters(about 25 feet) long and 1.22 meters (about 4feet) wide. The distance traveled by the vehicle will be measured from the starting line to the lagging front wheel of the car at the end of its trip. If the car leaves the lane from either side, it will be considered stopped when it breaks the plane of the line boundary. YOU MUST START YOUR CAR WITH THE FRONT WHEELS ON THE TAPE AT THE (Front) EDGE OF THE STARTING LINE. ITS STOPPINGPOINTWILL BE DETERMINED BY THE LAGGING FRONT WHEEL.

Grading:

Your car is worth a total of 45 points and breaks down in the following manner:

PART 1 -Preliminary Testing – December 17, 2013 - 15 points

Car / Paper
0 points / 5 points / 10 points / 0 points / 5 points
No Car
or
Car travels 1.0m or less
or
Car does not meet the size specifications / Car travels
1.0 ≤ d > 3.0 m
+
all size specs are met
+
all design specs are met / Car travels 3.0m or more
+
all size specs are met
+
all design specs are met / *No Paper
or
*No Pictures
(you must have 2 views see above)
or
*No References for research / *Clear pictures
(with both required views)
+
*A well written, grammatically correct description of your research
+
*research references

PART 2 -Final Car and Official Testing – January 7 and 8th -30 points

  • Impound Points = 10 points for building the car to all “ready position” specifications, and above-mentioned regulations. If your car fails to meet specifications it will receive ZERO points and will NOT be tested. Your car MUST be in room 711 at 2:30 on the impound date. You will not be permitted to have access to your car again until the class period that you will be testing (on race day).
  • Course completion Points = 15 point : The distance portion of the points will be pro-rated (your distance/8 meters). If your car travels 8 meters* you will earn 15 points (this is considered the maximum number of points for the distance).
  • You will not be penalized for over-shooting the distance, but you will be penalized for under-shooting.
    For example if your car travels 7.2 meters you will earn (7.2/8) x 15 = 13.5 points; but if your car travels 8.3 feet you will earn (8/8) x 15 = 15 points.
  • If your car does not the full 8 meters you CANNOT earn any points for time and the best grade you can get is your preliminary points + impound points + distance points (NO TIME POINTS).
  • Time Points:The remaining (5) points will be awarded based on the time rubric.
  • If your car does not complete the 8 meterdistance, you will not be eligible for any of the “time” points.
  • You will not be penalized if your car over shoots the finish line.

Time Rubric

Distance Traveled / Time / Points
Less than 8.0-m / Any time / 0
d ≥ 8.0 m / 4.00 s or less / 7
d ≥ 8.0 m / 4.01 s  5.00 s / 6
d ≥ 8.0 m / 5.01 s  6.00 s / 5
d ≥ 8.0 m / 6.01 s  7.00 s / 4
d ≥ 8.0 m / 7.01 s  8.00 s / 3
d ≥ 8.0 m / 8.01 s  9.00 s / 2
d ≥ 8.0 m / 9.01 s  12.00 s / 1
d ≥ 8.0 m / 12.01 s or more / 0

Competition

*Race  The fastest car will not only earn serious bragging rights, but will also earn a Chipotle gift card.

*Aesthetics  You will earn no points for how your car looks, however, the" best looking" car willearn a Chipotle gift card. The award for “best looking” will be based on staff and student voting. The student voting will NOT be made up of students participating in this project; another group of students will vote (maybe chemistry, maybe physical science, maybe biology….you don’t know who!)