What is a mousetrap powered car and how does it work?
A mouse trap-powered racer is a vehicle that is powered by the energy of a wound-up mousetrap’s spring. The most basic design is to tie one end of a string to the tip of a mousetrap’s snapper arm and then the other end of the string has a loop that is designed to “catch” a hook that is glued to a drive axle. Once the loop is placed over the axle hook, the string is wound around the drive axle by turning the wheels in the opposite direction to the vehicle intended motion. As the string is wound around the axle by the turning of the wheels, the snapper’s lever arm is pulled closer to the drive axle causing the mousetrap’s spring to “wind-up” and store energy. When the drive wheels are released, the string is pulled off the drive axle by the mousetrap causing the wheels to rotate.
