Unit Overview-Student Materials
Mechanical Engineering is one of the largest and broadest fields of engineering.  Mechanical engineers use principles of energy, materials, and mechanics to design and manufacture machines, devices, processes, and systems.  Key principles studied in mechanical engineering are the mechanics of motion -- whether it is the motion of fluids, air or other particles -- and the transfer of energy from one form to another or from one location to another.  (http://www.careercornerstone.org/pdf/me/mecheng.pdf)

In this module you will design a car using a mousetrap as the source of power.  Your task will require you to apply principles of mechanical engineering and physics to transfer the potential energy stored in the mousetrap spring into the kinetic energy to move the car.  For this project you will:

1. Design and build a mousetrap car to compete with your classmates cars for the farthest distance traveled and satisfy the design requirements (listed below, section 10.1).
2. Use physics and calculus to determine position, velocity and acceleration of your car
3. Formulate a test procedure to determine position, velocity & acceleration of your car
4. Meet all milestones and deliver a written design report to summarize your design, testing and results.

Unit Objectives

• Formulate a design for your mousetrap car and justify your choices
• Apply the principles of physics and calculus to analyze the motion of your car (kinematics)
• Formulate and implement a procedure to test your car
• Compare the theoretical and actual performance results
• Organize your work in a formal written report.

Student Materials
Mousetrap Car – Student Document (pdf)
Modular Approach to Technical Writing (pdf)

Unit Overview-Instructors Guide
During this module, students will design and build a mousetrap car based upon a design objective and specification provided to them.  They will apply principles of mechanical engineering and physics to transfer the potential energy stored in the mousetrap spring into kinetic energy to move the car.  Students will be required to re-design and re-test their car to experience the iterative nature of product and system design and the unpredictable results that often occur.

They will analyze the position, velocity and acceleration of various objects and their own cars using formulas for one-dimensional motion analysis assuming constant acceleration.

For this project students will:

1. Design and build a mousetrap car to compete with your classmates cars for the farthest distance traveled and satisfy the design requirements (listed below, section 10.1).
2. Use physics and calculus to determine position, velocity and acceleration of your car, throughout its motion, as a function of time.
3. Formulate a test procedure to determine position, velocity & acceleration of your car as a function of time.
4. Meet all milestones and deliver a written design report to summarize your design, testing and results.

Unit Objectives

• Formulate a design for your mousetrap car and justify your choices
• Apply the principles of physics and calculus to analyze the motion of your car (kinematics)
• Formulate and implement a procedure to test your car
• Compare the theoretical and actual performance results
• Organize your work in a formal written report.

Instructor Materials
Mousetrap Car – Instructors Guide(pdf)
Modular Approach to Technical Writing (pdf)

Answer Keys Available Upon Request – Mousetrap Car - activity 1 (Word file), Mousetrap Car - activity 1 graphs (Excel file),
Mousetrap Car - activity 3 (Word file) and Mousetrap Car - activity 3 graphs (Excel file)