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How to Make a Mouse Trap Car Faster

A mousetrap car is a popular school engineering and design project. The car is powered by an old-fashioned spring-loaded mouse trap. There are a huge variety of designs used in making mousetrap cars, and the cars can be easily modified for distance, speed and pulling power. In schools, the cars are often used to teach lessons on friction, mechanical advantage and design, but many people build them just for fun. The keys to obtaining maximum speed are reducing the weight of the car, increasing wheel friction and decreasing the wheel-to-axle ratio.

Things You'll Need

Mouse trap car
Extra mouse traps
Wooden dowels
Old CDs or DVDs
Scissors or X-acto knife
Foam
Rubber bands
Balloons
Tape
Coin

Instructions

- 1
  Reduce weight by cutting back wherever you can. Create a light body for the car using light-weight wood or by using a dowel instead of a solid board for the body if you're making it from scratch. Experiment with different, light-weight materials for the body, such as foam instead of wood. Use old CDs or DVDs for the wheels, and reduce the weight by cutting out the inside of the CD to leave spokes instead of a solid disk.
- 2
  Reduce the wheel-to-axle ratio by using small wheels, or by wrapping tape around the drive axle. The smaller the ratio between the drive wheels and the axle, the greater the acceleration. You can also reduce the wheel-to-axle ratio by using a longer drive axle.
- 3
  Use a stronger mouse trap. Test different traps to find the strongest. Check the mouse trap lever arm to make sure it has not bent during winding. If the lever arm is bent, the spring will not wind all the way and this will reduce the speed of your car.
- 4
  Increase traction to prevent the wheels from spinning in place and increase the car's forward momentum. Increase traction on the drive wheels by wrapping a rubber band or piece of balloon around each wheel. You can also try squirting a little sugar water on the wheels. When the water dries, it will make the wheels a bit sticky, providing more traction. Traction can also be increased by taping a weight, such as a coin, directly on top of the drive axle.
- 5
  Shorten the lever arm. This will cause the lever arm to travel more quickly, releasing the energy stored in the string more quickly. The car will move more quickly, but will not travel as great a distance.

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