Mousetrap Research Paper

The mousetrap racer that was created by my group travelled a total of 6.60m on our best test on testing day. The distance achieved, placed my group third in the class, this was quite unexpected due to the ongoing issues we kept discovering with our racer. Issues involved were as such a crooked front wheel, materials being incapable of being brought in and our mousetrap racer stopping before the mousetrap had completely snapped shut. Before testing day the furthest length our racer had achieved was 3.98m however before then the distance was too small to measure for it to be useful data. Our mousetrap racer was quite successful and consistent during testing. The reason our racer had eventually become successful was due to the improvements we had made over the time period of building.

Design features that were included on our racer are as

Due to its triangle shape it becomes more aerodynamic however because more weight is distributed to each wheel rather than having four wheels it increases friction. Wheels and axles were added because they are simple machines that help move objects along the ground as they reduce the friction of the object being moved and the surface in which it is being moved upon. An axle is what attaches the wheel to the object and in this case that was the base of our racer. The two back wheels had an outline around the edge made out of balloons. They were added to increase traction. Traction is a form of friction that if wheels are lacking from it, it would cause them to lose grip and spin out of line therefore wasting useful energy. By added or increasing traction it provides the wheels more grip and larger acceleration potential. The third wheel which was at the front of the racer did not need any grip as it was expected to be capable of rolling with the rest of the cart with ease. Therefore is balloons were added to it, it would end up damaging the carts