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Instructions for a Simple Mouse Trap Car

Building a simple mouse trap car is a great rainy day activity. It requires only materials you may already have around the house and encourages open-ended creativity and experimentation. While your child is designing and building his mouse trap car, he will also learn a bit about potential energy and how it is transformed into torque, which is then transformed into rotational and linear energy. He will also experience first hand how real world engineering problems are solved by balancing or compromising between conflicting design requirements.

Things You'll Need

2 inch by 3 inch block of balsa wood
4 eye hooks
4 thin straws or coffee stirrers
Glue
8 rubber washers
4 small empty thread spools
Wooden mouse trap
Stiff wire (optional)
String

Instructions

- 1
  Screw the two eye hooks into each of the short ends of the balsa wood. Leave one inch of space between the eye hooks. They should stick out from the wood.
- 2
  Lay two straws side by side so their ends are even. Carefully glue them together. These will be your axles.
- 3
  Insert each straw axle through a pair of eye hooks. Be sure the axles are longer than the width of the car and are parallel to the bottom of the car. Thread one rubber washer onto the axles near each eye hook to hold the axle in place. Do not let the washer touch the eye hook or it will cause friction. Thread the spools onto the axles as wheels. Thread the remaining four rubber washers onto the axles near the wheels to hold the wheels in place.
- 4
  Glue the mouse trap to the center of the top of the car, near the back. Allow the glue to dry thoroughly before moving on.
- 5
  Attach a three inch length of stiff wire to the jaw of the mouse trap. Tie one end of the string to the end of the wire. Coil the other end of the string to the back axle in the opposite direction to the way you want the car to move.
- 6
  Place your car on a smooth, flat surface with at least 25 feet of open space. A hallway floor is an ideal test track. Release the trigger mechanism on the mouse trap to test your car, then revise your design to optimize for speed or distance.
  
  To increase the speed of your car, choose lighter materials for the body or wheels. To reduce weight further, remove the wire lever arm and connect the string directly to the mouse trap.
  
  To increase distance, increase the length of the lever arm or the axle to wheel ratio.

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