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How to Make a Homemade Mousetrap Car

Building mousetrap cars is an educational assignment in many middle school science classrooms. The principle is that the stored potential energy in the spring of the mousetrap provides torque to the rear axle, propelling the car across a surface. You can build a mousetrap car with minimal materials or experience, and often you don't even need to go to the hardware store to purchase materials. Ballpoint pen casings make great axles, rubber bands serve as tires and compact discs work well as wheels.

Things You'll Need

4 compact discs
Mousetrap
Rubber bands
2-ft. length of string
4 eye hooks
Glue
2 ballpoint pens

Instructions

- 1
  Screw two eye hooks into each of the short edges of the mousetrap. Make sure they are rotated so that the faces are perpendicular to the ground. Place them about a centimeter in from the outside edges.
- 2
  Disassemble the ballpoint pens, and poke a hole through the center of one of the tubes. Slide the cut tube through the two eye hooks in the rear of the car, where the mousetrap bar will be latched when it is loaded. Then slide the uncut pen tube through the front two eye hooks.
- 3
  Thread the string through the hole in the pen tube and tie a knot so that the string cannot be pulled through the tube. Tie the other end of the string to the center of the mousetrap bar, and use a dab of glue to ensure it does not slide across the bar.
- 4
  Wind rubber bands around the four ends of the pen tubes so that they will be flush with the holes in the compact discs. Slide the discs on top of the rubber bands and make sure they are as perpendicular to the ground as possible so that they do not wobble when they spin.
- 5
  Stretch a rubber band over the edge of each wheel to act as tires.
- 6
  Pull the mouse trap bar back with your hand, being careful not to let it snap. Once it is set, spin the rear axle backward to wind the slack string around the axle. Place the car on a hard surface where it can travel unimpeded, and let the car go.

Educational Toys