MOUSETRAP CAR DESIGN CHALLENGE REPORT TEMPLATE
STUDENT NAME: Cooper Webster TEACHER: Mr Conway
GROUP MEMBERS: Cooper Webster, Dom Graziotto, Daniel Webb, Tom Enders
INTRODUCTION
We were given groups to design and make a mousetrap powered car that will roll as far as possible. This will be measured and be put into a graph. We will make three modifications to our mousetrap car over the course of the experiment. We have a variety of different materials, including plastic, wooden wheels and a dowel, screws, mousetrap, blue tack and a piece of string. Forces were acting in a negative way and a positive way on the car. Gravity was pulling the car down to the ground. Uplift was pushing up upon the car against gravity. Drag was also known as friction, holding back the car while it was moving. Thrust was in the cars favour, pushing forward against the force drag. There were also many forms of energy being used and being wasted like heat and sound energy. Potential energy was stored in the mousetrap, propelling itself forward. Kinetic energy was also demonstrated when the car started to roll.
#1. We added an extended lever arm to increase the distance of the car. We put the lever arm on, because the bigger the arm, the less force required. The larger the lever arm , the less force is required to pull the string. On our car we originally had no lever arm, when we put the arm on, the cars distance changed due to the less force required to pull the string and that means
On a larger scale, the example of a Lego made motors efficiency can relate to that of a modern day car and the efficiency / energy waste that comes from it. The internal combustion engine is an engine in which the combustion of a fossil fuel mixes with air in a chamber of the operational fluid flow circuit.
To create a mousetrap car and measure its performance. We will also see where force and energy is impacting on the performance, for example friction will impact on the cars performance as it generates heat and slows to car down thus meaning that the car may not travel as far as it should. Another force that is demonstrated in testing of the car kinetic energy, without kinetic energy the car would not travel at all.
The hypothesis about the CO2 angle will change the speed of the car was, rejected. The hypothesis was that if a Pinewood derby car had CO2 inserted at a 20 degree angle, then the 20 degree angle would work best because the angle would keep enough thrust power and keep the car on the track. However, the 20 degree angle was the second best because the 180 degree angle had more thrust power to it then the 20 degree angle. The control group was the 180 degree angle and it’s average was 1.33 second. The 45 degree angle was the longest with an average of 2 seconds. The 20 degree angle or second experimental group had an average of 1.67 seconds. I got these results because each angle that got farther from strait started to lose the amount of thrust that the 180 degree angle had. So if I tried it with a 90 degree angle then the car wouldn’t be moving at all.
As the car go down it looses its potential energy because it is not at the same height anymore. As it loses the potential energy it gains kinetic energy. Kinetic energy came along because of its high speed. The mathematical equation for this is initial kinetic energy plus initial potential energy plus external work equals final kinetic energy plus final potential energy. To find work the equation is force times distance. To find power the equation is work divided by time.
The two types of friction of the mousetrap car are rolling friction and static friction are the two types of friction that may affect the performance of the mousetrap car. The problem of the friction did I encounter and how do you solve them one types of friction i encounter was the static friction I had to take off some glue from the stick that had my wheels and to open eye screws. The factor did take into account to decide the number of wheels you decide to chose for the mousetrap car I saw a video of a car that had 4 wheels and it ran really fast, so I thought a 4 wheeled car would run fast or at least the four meters. What kind of wheels did I use in each axles I use tires as my wheels on each axles. I think the affects on using big wheels
5. Tie one end of the 60-cm string to the mass. Place the mass on a table below
The purpose of this laboratory experiment is to construct a mousetrap vehicle. The vehicle needed to go travel five meters. My partner and I build a mousetrap car that obtain a two-axle vehicle with four CDs making the produce optimum acceleration and travel.
The boat sails forward into a weighted ball that has gravitational potential energy. The boat passes its momentum to the weighted ball at the top of a ramp. The ball falls down onto one end of a catapult. Once the weighted ball falls down onto one side of the catapult, the other side with a non weighted ball is driven up launches the ball up into a tube. The ball travels through the short tube, and passes its momentum to another ball at the top of a ramp. The ball has gravitational potential energy, and it falls down the ramp losing that energy turning it into kinetic energy. That ball hits a peg on a wheel. This wheel has four pegs on it, and one of them has a smaller peg perpendicular to the original peg. The wheel is turned driving the peg with the smaller peg up and into a block chain. The peg transfers its energy into the first block, and the first block transfers its energy into the next and so on. The final block hits a pin which is inside a slot. A balloon is positioned behind the pin, so once the block hits it, the pin is driven forward into the balloon. The pin pokes a hole in the side of the balloon releasing the air inside. The balloon is
When the mousetrap car moves down the track, the speed of the mousetrap car decreases, therefore my hypothesis was supported. At 1 second, the mousetrap car was traveling at a speed of 3.2 m/s. At 2 seconds, the mousetrap car was traveling at a speed of 2.35 m/s. At 3 seconds, the mousetrap car was traveling at a speed of 1.53 m/s. At 4 seconds, the mousetrap car was moving at a speed of 1.2 m/s. At 5 seconds, the mousetrap car was traveling at a speed of .98m/s. “A car will eventually come to a stop if just allowed to roll as the friction between the road surface and the wheels causes friction that causes the vehicle to stop,”(Examples of Rolling Friction). The evidence supports the claim because the wheels of the mousetrap car are moving
The aim of the experiment is to examine how the acceleration of the car differs when the angle of inclination of the ramp is amplified and to record and analyse findings.
The mousetrap car, Versace, was tested multiple times to test how far it went. When constructing the car, the group members had different ideas, but all ideas were put into the construction of the car. The car was tested with CDs as wheels and then paper plates as wheels. Each time, when testing the car, the axle gearing had different measurements and distances. The group had finally gotten the best distance on the car. The group was also able to find the kinetic energy of the boat. Then the data from the tests were used to find the efficiency of the car. Overall, the car did very well.
The balloon powered race car will be powered by the balloon. The balloon will be blown into and the straw will be the source of the air going into the balloon and then pinched so there is no release of air, then release the air, measure the distance and speed of the car when air is released. This uses the three Newton laws and they are when an object is at rest it stays at rest and an object is in motion it stays in motion in a straight line at constant speed unless acted upon by an unbalanced force, the next is the acceleration of an object depends on the mass of the object and the force applied, the last is every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
4. Jack the car up about a foot to a foot and a half. Use the jack stands and put them on both sides of the car. ** This is a very important procedure; in case the jack fails (unlikely but can happen) you have something to hold up the car.
The toy has uses two main energies, Kinetic and Potential. Potential energy is made by the pulling back of the car. Kinetic is made when after the car is
car will accelerate and how fast it will go. Newton’s second law is the easiest to understand in relation to a car’s acceleration. Newton’s second law mathematically states Force=(mass)(acceleration) (Murphy 78). This law explains why cars that need to accelerate fast should be relatively light in weight compared to other cars. Removing mass, such as a bumper, radio or fancy upholstery reduces the weight of