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Mousetrap Vehicle

Division: Div  B – Middle School

NC Essential Standards Alignment: Science as Inquiry, PSc.1.1., Phy.1.1, Phy.1.2

Event Rules: See the National rules manual

Event Score Sheet:

National Event Page: Here

Required Materials:  All participants must properly wear eye protection at all times. Participants without proper eye protection must be immediately informed and given a chance to obtain eye protection if time allows. Participants without eye protection will not be allowed to compete.

Clarifications: For Regionals, track distances will be announced at 7pm on Feb 3 at the Cars Office Hour. It will also be posted in the Div B spreadsheet.

Description:

This is a construction event. Prior to the competition teams will build a vehicle that uses propulsive energy from one snap mousetrap as its sole means of propulsion to reach a target as quickly and accurately as possible.

Materials:

Each team must bring and impound a single vehicle, a practice log, and any additional/spare parts. Teams may bring one stand-alone calculator of any type, data, and non-electric tools for their vehicle which does not need to be impounded. All participants must properly wear eye protection at all times. Participants without proper eye protection must be immediately informed and given a chance to obtain eye protection if time allows. Participants without eye protection will not be allowed to compete.

Scoring:

Low score wins.  

Common Mistakes:

– Do not modify the structural integrity of the mousetraps in any way.  You are permitted to attach additional pieces to the mousetrap arm.  You are permitted to drill up to 4 holes in each mousetrap to attach it to the vehicle.
– At any given tournament, approximately 1/3 of the vehicles are penalized for construction violations. This is something easy to avoid.
– Be sure to submit your practice log labeled correctly and measuring at least 3 parameters.

Recommendations:

Mousetraps lose a great deal of their power even after a single trip. Get a spring scale to measure how the mousetrap loses power over time, and calculate when to replace it. Also, try different brands.

Event Resources

2022 Season Coaches Clinic – Vehicle Events
2022 Season – Mousetrap Vehicle

2021 Rules and Tips
Link to Kits

Mousetrap Vehicle 2019 Coaches Clinic Presentation (2020 Rules)

Mousetrap Vehicle 2017 Coaches Clinic Presentation (2018 Rules)

Media:

Below is an example of how Mousetrap Vehicle will look for Regionals in 2022.

2018 Mousetrap Vehicle track explanation
2011 Mousetrap vehicle starts in the middle of the track, pushes a plastic cup (Solo 16 oz shown here) 3 meters down the track, then reverses direction leaving the cup behind, and travels back 7 meters to the finish line. Score is based on how close the cup was to the reverse line, and how close the vehicle stopped to the finish line, plus speed (faster is better).
2011 Mousetrap Vehicle. This one overshoots the cup line slightly, then has a great finish.
A vehicle using 2 traps to operate, 2010 rules (no cup, starts and ends at same point on track)
A vehicle using one trap to operate, 2010 rules (no cup, starts and ends at same point on track)