Mousetrap Vehicle C

[bearasauras]

What dowel, if not wooden, were y'all using last year?

[PM2017]

What dowel, if not wooden, were y'all using last year?

I used a straw at one of my competitions last year but later found that it was actually in violation of the rules...

[DarthBuilder]

In competition will the cups most likely be 5cm tall?

[antoine_ego]

In competition will the cups most likely be 5cm tall?

The ones I have are about 6cm tall, and they satisfy the 3oz requirement.

[Things2do]

In competition will the cups most likely be 5cm tall?

The ones I have are about 6cm tall, and they satisfy the 3oz requirement.

There's a height requirement in the rules. I think it's 3 or 5 or something cm...

[antoine_ego]

In competition will the cups most likely be 5cm tall?

The ones I have are about 6cm tall, and they satisfy the 3oz requirement.

There's a height requirement in the rules. I think it's 3 or 5 or something cm...

According to 5.c., "The Event Supervisor will provide a 3-oz. paper cup that is at least 5.0 cm tall."

[sciencecat42]

Our car won't go the full 8 m due to the way setting the mousetrap doesn't allow it to rotate the full 180 degrees. Instead, it only goes about 6.5 m. However, I'm confused about how to calculate the theoretical distance of our car.

We have 2.375 in diameter wheels and 0.25 in diameter axles. We get about 25 winds when the car is set, so theoretically the car should go 2.375 * pi * 25 = 186.53 in or 4.74 m, but it's going over that, so am I calculating it wrong?

Also, would switching the wheels to 2.875 in and the axles to 0.1875 in be enough to make the car be able to go 8 m forward and however many backwards?

[PM2017]

Our car won't go the full 8 m due to the way setting the mousetrap doesn't allow it to rotate the full 180 degrees. Instead, it only goes about 6.5 m. However, I'm confused about how to calculate the theoretical distance of our car.

We have 2.375 in diameter wheels and 0.25 in diameter axles. We get about 25 winds when the car is set, so theoretically the car should go 2.375 * pi * 25 = 186.53 in or 4.74 m, but it's going over that, so am I calculating it wrong?

Also, would switching the wheels to 2.875 in and the axles to 0.1875 in be enough to make the car be able to go 8 m forward and however many backwards?

That's because its probably coasting after the 4.74m. That's just the driven distance. If you watch closely (assuming your calculations are right) then at 4.74 meters, all available potential energy in the mousetraps has been turned into kinetic energy (ideally, obviously there are losses to friction, and rotational energy)

After doing the calculations, your car should have a driven distance of around 7.64 meters if you make those changes, although it should still coast afterward.

[sciencecat42]

Our car won't go the full 8 m due to the way setting the mousetrap doesn't allow it to rotate the full 180 degrees. Instead, it only goes about 6.5 m. However, I'm confused about how to calculate the theoretical distance of our car.

We have 2.375 in diameter wheels and 0.25 in diameter axles. We get about 25 winds when the car is set, so theoretically the car should go 2.375 * pi * 25 = 186.53 in or 4.74 m, but it's going over that, so am I calculating it wrong?

Also, would switching the wheels to 2.875 in and the axles to 0.1875 in be enough to make the car be able to go 8 m forward and however many backwards?

That's because its probably coasting after the 4.74m. That's just the driven distance. If you watch closely (assuming your calculations are right) then at 4.74 meters, all available potential energy in the mousetraps has been turned into kinetic energy (ideally, obviously there are losses to friction, and rotational energy)

After doing the calculations, your car should have a driven distance of around 7.64 meters if you make those changes, although it should still coast afterward.

So from what I'm getting, are 2-7/8" banebots wheels not viable this year? Since if you want the car to go backwards then it has to go at least 8 m theoretically since you can't coast forwards if you reverse wind.

[PM2017]

Our car won't go the full 8 m due to the way setting the mousetrap doesn't allow it to rotate the full 180 degrees. Instead, it only goes about 6.5 m. However, I'm confused about how to calculate the theoretical distance of our car.

We have 2.375 in diameter wheels and 0.25 in diameter axles. We get about 25 winds when the car is set, so theoretically the car should go 2.375 * pi * 25 = 186.53 in or 4.74 m, but it's going over that, so am I calculating it wrong?

Also, would switching the wheels to 2.875 in and the axles to 0.1875 in be enough to make the car be able to go 8 m forward and however many backwards?

That's because its probably coasting after the 4.74m. That's just the driven distance. If you watch closely (assuming your calculations are right) then at 4.74 meters, all available potential energy in the mousetraps has been turned into kinetic energy (ideally, obviously there are losses to friction, and rotational energy)

After doing the calculations, your car should have a driven distance of around 7.64 meters if you make those changes, although it should still coast afterward.

So from what I'm getting, are 2-7/8" banebots wheels not viable this year? Since if you want the car to go backwards then it has to go at least 8 m theoretically since you can't coast forwards if you reverse wind.

You could just make a longer lever arm.