“SECME: Igniting Minds
Through STEM Education”
Basic Instructions For the
Mousetrap Car Competition
Team entry: 3 students required
Design
Mousetrap car construction and run
Communication
Technical report writing
Design drawings
Team interview with Judges
Mousetrap Event Final Scoring
Total of the following scores
Mousetrap car performance (100 pts max)
Design drawing (50 pts max)
Technical report (50 pts max)
Team interview (50 pts max)
Total Max = 250 pts
Design Drawing
Paper Size (18” X 24”), 1” Margins, (plain, non-grid, 17 pound vellum
sheet) No mounting or framing/ Laminating is okay
Must Show Scale and Units (use 1:1 and centimeters if possible)
Name and Label all parts of the car
Required three views (front, side, and top views)
Dimensions are required to be illustrated
Accuracy and Resemblance between car and drawing
Neatness (Ink pens, pencils, or markers may be used)
A 4" x 6" Title Legend is to be drawn in the bottom left corner of the
drawing inside the 1” border with the following information:
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Team name
School name and address
Team members names, addresses and grade levels
School coordinator’s name
Date of Competition
Technical Report Writing
White, 8.5” X 11” paper, 1” margins
Computer Printed, 12 pt. Type, Standard Font, Doublespaced
The Main Body of the Report (Introduction, Design,
Construction Procedure, and Operation) should be a
Maximum of 5 Pages
Graded on
Outline
Organization
Precision
Sentence formation
Mechanics
Technical Report Organization
Cover page (required to contain)
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Title
Name, addresses and grade of team members
Team’s school name and address
School system name
School Coordinator’s name
Date
Abstract (1/2 page summary)
Table of contents (1 page)
Introduction
Design
Construction procedure
Operation of the mousetrap car
Conclusions / Recommendations
Acknowledgements
Appendix (sketches, tables, charts etc.)
5 page maximum
Team Interview
Requirements
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All three members must be present. Team Members are
interviewed as a group.
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Each member responds to questions
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Work is students’ own
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True team effort is evident
Team Interview
Evaluation Categories
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Teamwork
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Application of Technical Principles
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Knowledge of Design
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Oral Communication Skills
Mousetrap Race Scoring
Weight of Mousetrap
(25 grams)
_______________
Weight of Car
Goal:
Minimize Weight of Car
Minimize Longest Dimension
Maximize Distance
2
Distance
_______
Longest
Dimension
Selection of Materials (Limited
only by Your Imagination)
Mousetrap
Chassis: wood, foam board, craft sticks, stiff wire, etc.
Axles: wooden dowels, metal tubes, stiff wire, axles
from old toys, etc.
Wheels: CDs, wood, foam board, wheels from old toys,
Metal lids, other disk-shaped objects
Pull Cord: string, fishing line, etc.
Adhesives: glue, tape, screws, nails
Tools: compass, ruler, scissors, glue gun, pliers, cable
cutters, screwdrivers, hammers, saws, drills, vice,
sandpaper, files, etc.
Physics Concepts
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Physics Concepts
Friction (Traction/ Air Resistance)
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decompressor
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QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Physics Concepts
Newton’s Laws (Law of Inertia)
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
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QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
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Physics Concepts
Rotational Inertia
Physics Concepts
Torque (Lever Arm and Pulling Force)
Speed Placement Distance placement
Drive
axle
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Physics Concepts
Wheel-to-Axle Ratio
Distance Cars (Large
Wheel-to-Axle Ratio)
Speed Cars (Small
Wheel-to-Axle Ratio)
Tips
Weight of the Car: For all cars, you want to build the lightest possible vehicle. However, if
your car is too light, it will not have enough traction.
Wheels: Old CDs make great wheels, but have very little traction. Stretch a wide rubber
band or a balloon cut out around each wheel.
Glue: Use a quick drying hobby glue. Pay attention to the drying time specified on the
bottle. Some glues will permanently set in as little as five seconds, giving you very little
time to position the pieces. If you glue your fingers together (or to the car!) use acetone
or nail polish remover to dissolve the glue. You may want to keep some extremely fast
drying glue at hand during race day!
Pull Cord: Winding the pull cord in the wrong direction makes the car go backwards.
Wind the wheels in the direction opposite to the motion you want the mouse trap car to
travel, this will wind the string around the axle. you want the string to be tight so let it pull
the lever arm over by itself as you wind the wheels.
Alignment: A mousetrap car that always steers to one side will not be good for
competition. Use spacers and washers to help align the car.
Aerodynamics: Keep the number of flat surfaces facing the front of the car down to a
minimum. Sanding the body of the car smooth also helps cut down drag.
Remember
Your final score is the total of the following
scores:
Score on technical report
Score on car design drawing
Score on the team interview
Mousetrap car race score
Don’t focus on the car race and forget the others!