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Mousetrap Car

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Mousetrap Car
Shyanne Vaden

Mousetrap Questions

What are the two ways that friction affected the performance of your vehicle?
Friction affected my vehicle by either not pushing it far enough, or pushing it very far. The friction of the ground would also stop my vehicle from going farther then it could've. My car also needed a bit of momentum to start so the friction did not help my care move at all.

What problems related to friction did you encounter and how did you solve them?
The friction did not help my car move. My car needed a bit of momentum to start, like most objects. The friction did not work with my car at all! I solved it by dropping my car instead of pushing. The dropping helped my car move and push.

What factors did you take
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What is the effect of using large or small wheels?
I used CD's on each axles with waiters screwed on next to them to support them. I used medium sized wheels. The effect of using big wheels is with each push of the wheel, the mouse trap will travel farther but may not travel fast. For small wheels, the push will be very small but it will travel faster because it has less mass.
Explain how Newton’s first, second and third laws apply to the performance of your
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The second law applies to the mousetrap car because of the mass, and acceleration affect the force and how fast the mousetrap car goes. The third law applies because the lever (or the mousetrap car) is pulling the wheels forward, calling them to move and the force moves forward. Pushing the ground behind the car.
Discuss the effect of the length of the lever arm in the pulling force of your vehicle.
While I was doing the project, I realized that the longer the lever (and string) the farther the vehicle would go. But a long lever would need a big vehicle with a large mass. So if it was a small vehicle with a big lever, there would be no momentum or force to pull the vehicle. My vehicle was medium sized, so I used a medium to large lever.
How does the distribution of weight of the vehicle affect the traction of the wheels?
When you had a large vehicle, you needed a large lever which would pull the large wheels. The wheels needed to be strong enough and gain enough force in order to pull a large vehicle. The distribution would have to be balanced on each side.

' Discuss the major problems encountered in the performance of your vehicle and what did you do to solve

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