Physics Analysis

After doing calculations, we were able to find our mousetrap car's potential and kinetic energy.

Kinetic Energy: 1/2(mass)(velocity)^2
                            1/2(.192)(1.49)^2
                            =.2131 J
Potential Energy: (avg. force)(distance of string)
                          (2) (.055 * 3.14)
                          =.3454 J

These calculations make sense because while the kinetic energy is less than the potential energy of the mousetrap spring, friction in the wheels and body of the car will cause the thermal energy to rise and the kinetic energy to decrease. The length of the lever arm was multiplied by the average force to find our potential energy which makes sense since it is half of the length of the mousetrap itself. The efficiency of our mousetrap car is 61.7%.

Because this mousetrap spring is not that strong, it makes sense that both the Kinetic and Potential Energy are low values. The Total Energy never changes, but instead converts between Kinetic, Potential, and Thermal Energy (created by friction).

Our greatest problem dealing with friction was between the axles and body of the mousetrap car. The axles turning would create friction against the cardboard body and convert some of the spring's Potential Energy into Thermal, instead of Kinetic Energy that would make the car accelerate.

Phase 4: The Final Trial

We performed three trials in class today, and discovered that our mousetrap car's maximum velocity was 2.545 m/s.

This is the video that captured our fastest trial, Trial #2.

After analyzing the footage in Logger Pro, we found the maximum velocity of 2.545 m/s.

Final Thoughts on our Final Trial

With our previous car we only reached about half of the velocity that we reached today with our new car and even when we remade our car, it didn't initially have the results that were received today. With tweaks to our car, we felt as if we found ways to maximize our kinetic energy. We tried new things such as a different way of setting up our project and that turned out to be very beneficial. Although we learned what to avoid with our old car we wish we had more time with the new car because we feel if we had worked on our second car with the complete duration of the time allotted to us, we could have even further maximized our kinetic energy, but we still are proud of the car we put together.