MOUSETRAP POWERED CARS

Victor mousetraps are the absolute best quality mousetrap available and 100% made right here in the U.S.A. Victor mousetraps are the industry standard and the official mousetrap required for almost all mousetrap vehicle contest and STEM challenges nation wide including the Science Olympiad. Almost all other mousetraps on the market today are designed to be a single use mousetrap and will not hold up to the riggers of continued project testing over and over again. Victor uses only the highest quality metal for its torsional springs so it can be wound up over and over again with very little degradation to it's spring strength. You will get a very consistent performance from one test run to the next. The average spring constant for a Victor mousetrap is 0.08 Nm/rad giving it a starting energy of 0.8 Joules when fully wound. Make sure you go with the only name in mousetraps that you can trust for a consistent performance when you need it the most, go with a Victor mousetrap.

Top Highlights:

• Victor mousetraps are the industry standard and the official mousetrap required for almost all mousetrap vehicle contest nation wide including the Science Olympiad.
• Best quality mousetrap on the market able to withstand the riggers of continued testing over and over again with very little degradation in spring strength.
• Consistent performance from one run to the next.
• Average spring constant is 0.08 Nm/rad giving it a starting energy, when a fully wound, of 0.8 Joules of potential energy.
• Standard Size Mousetrap, length 3" 7/8" inches, width 1" 3/4" inches (D x W )
• 100% made in the U.S.A. Lancaster, PA

Includes the following:

• 2x - Victor Brand Mousetraps

Size: 3.875" inches x 1.75" inches

Weight: 0.9 oz. (total weight)

Energy and Work

Energy is the ability to do work and is the mover of matter. It take energy to do work in order to overcome the forces of friction acting against all moving objects. The energy used to move a mousetrap powered car is originally stored in the mousetrap's wound up spring in the form of potential energy. When this stored potential energy is released, it is converted into kinetic energy or the energy of motion. Little by little energy leaves the system as it is used to overcome the forces of friction acting against a vehicles motion turning that energy into heat and sound. A mousetrap, in most contest, can only be wound 180 degrees maximum and this represents all the energy in the system at the start. The stronger a mousetraps spring the more energy that can be stored as the spring is wound up. It is this stored energy that is used to accelerate and get your mousetrap vehicle to the finish line. Not all mousetrap springs from one brand to the next are the same. To be consistent, most mousetrap vehicle contest require all participants to use the same brand of mousetrap. Victor is the most commonly used brand of mousetraps for all mousetrap powered vehicle challenges nation wide including the Science Olympiad.

What Is a Torsion Spring?

Mousetraps use a torsional spring. A torsional spring is a type of spring that requires a twisting motion in order to store mechanical energy. When the mousetraps snapper arm is moved from its resting side of the mousetrap to its set position a twisting torque is applied to the spring causing the spring to storing mechanical energy. This storing of energy create a torque in the opposite direction to which the spring was twisted. Just like all springs, torsional spring have a spring constant that is used to tell you about the strength of the spring, teh large the number the stronger the spring. Since torsional spring do not stretch they twist, the spring constants for a torsional springs are normally measured in what we call Newton-meters per radians, ot torque per twist. The average spring constant for a Victor mousetrap is 0.08 Nm/rad giving it a starting energy, when a fully wound, of 0.8 Joules of potential energy.

Pulling Distance and Travel Distance

The gearing of a mousetrap vehicle is determined by three components, the length of the mousetrap's snapper lever arm, the diameter of the drive axle, and the diameter of the drive wheels. By attaching a lever arm to a mousetrap's snapper arm you can control both the pulling force and the amount of string that can be wound around the drive axle. The amount of torque delivered by the mousetrap's spring does not change but you can change the amount of pulling force delivered to the drive axle by changing the length of the mousetrap's lever arm. A longer lever arm decreases the pulling force but extends that pulling force over a greater distance. Shorter lever arms deliver a larger pulling force to the drive axle but have a shorter pulling distance. If you want to build a good long distance traveling mousetrap car then you will want a longer lever arm that has a smaller pulling force but that force acts over a greater pulling distance. Longer lever arms will give your vehicle more wraps of string that can be wound and unwound from the drive axle. If you want to build a good speed-trap racer then a shorter lever arm will generate more force for a greater acceleration but over a shorter pulling distance. The ratio of the drive wheels diameter to the drive axle diameter also play an important part in the gearing of a mousetrap racer, but the most common way to control both the speed and the pulling distance for any mousetrap powered car is by changing the length of the lever arm.

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