Make a mousetrap powered toy car

Posted by Mark Frauenfelder, April 25, 2008 2:05 PM | permalink

In this episode of Make's Weekend Project, Kipkap shows how to build a mousetrap-powered car.

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#1 posted by boingperch , April 25, 2008 2:50 PM

I don't get it. A mouse would have to be really really (really) slow to get run over by this thing. It should obviously be fitted with mouse-seeking missles to achieve the goal of total mouse domination.

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#2 posted by bopo

, April 25, 2008 3:08 PM

I had to do this for our high school physics class. Each duo's task was to see how far your car could transport a can of soda using the mousetrap. My partner and I won, but we got our asses handed to us by the teacher, who'd been perfecting his design for the past 25 years.

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#3 posted by GeekDad Ken , April 25, 2008 3:49 PM

I love these things! We did a contest over at GeekDad late last year, and got some really neat submissions from our readers.

http://blog.wired.com/geekdad/2007/11/and-the-winner-.html

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#4 posted by oasisob1 , April 25, 2008 4:12 PM

You can blow away any four wheel vehicle with a two wheel model.
Hang the mousetrap from a pair of eyelets, and run an axle through them, so that the trap swings freely below it. Use a pair of good old LP's for your wheels. I used threaded bolts, and nuts and washers to hold the records in place. You don't need an arm to extend the reach of your string, a short string will do. This sucker will go F-A-R!

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#5 posted by Nelson.C , April 25, 2008 5:19 PM

That's very interesting, but I have here the car-powered mousetrap!

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#6 posted by Falcon_Seven , April 25, 2008 5:46 PM

As every fifth-grader knows, it's a Newton Scooter!

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#7 posted by schmittenhammer , April 25, 2008 5:59 PM

A fellow worker made this rail style mousetrap car from paint stir sticks.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/228/504393577_c266ee3225.jpg

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#8 posted by jeffmock , April 25, 2008 10:57 PM

So, are "good" and "well" now completely interchangeable when it comes to cars? It's like nascar...

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#9 posted by dccarles , April 26, 2008 9:47 AM

Gads, I remember reading about these things when I was nine or ten. (We didn't have DVD spacers back then.) The version they had was so small the mousetrap formed the body of the car. I remember thinking 'won't the mousetrap just spin the wheels so fast it'll fall over?'

Sorry. Nostalgia spasm. Won't happen again.

--Devin

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#10 posted by Nygma , April 27, 2008 11:44 AM

Oh, we've been making mouse trap for years. Part of MESA (mathematics, engineering, science achievement) competitions. they are easy and fun to make.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39ZTJ_illmI

usually we teach them to add a metal rod to the hinge, glue to a piece of balsa wood, use ringlets and dvds and away you go!