Designing Mousetrap-Powered Vehicles: A Study in Propulsion

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The purpose of this lab was to design and create a vehicle powered by a mousetrap to travel the furthest distance compared to other designs using blank. The vehicle that was created collapsed and did not achieve a certain distance. That showed the instability and blank of the vehicle. Vehicles move by propulsion, a form of energy conversion. It changes the stored form into movement. Railroad locomotives use a diesel engine that converts chemical energy in kerosene into a turning motion that drives an electric generator. The electricity from this powers the locomotive’s motors, giving it enough propulsion to move. Newer automobiles use an internal combustion engine and battery to provide hybrid propulsion. This pairing helps with the overuse …show more content…

Before building the vehicle, a sketch was performed to blah blah. It was made of three wheels, one in front and two in the back, a base made of Legos, and mousetrap on the base. Once the design was accepted, construction of the front axle began. The small wheel was placed on the middle of the axle followed by two legos on the outer edge to connect to the base. These Legos were held in place by blank. The two pieces were then connected to a flat rectangular Lego that was placed under a longer rectangular Lego. This was known as the base and where the mousetrap was taped to. After the base and front axle were finished, the drive axle was constructed. The drive axle had the same concept as the front one, but a longer axle and connecting Legos were used instead. The connecting Legos were outside the wheels and connected to a thin rectangular Lego that was placed under the same Lego known as the base. A white wheel was placed in the middle of the drive axle to wrap the string around, as shown in Figure 5, but soon realized it did not have enough friction with the axle to propel it, so it was removed. The vehicle was then taken to Trial 1. During trial 1, it collapsed due to the length and lack of strength of the base. The vehicle was modified because of this reason. The black connecting Legos of the drive axle were moved to inside the two wheels, and the base was shortened by placing it

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