• Compete in a building event by following the specifications and seeing who can fine-tune their project most effectively. This year, students may build mousetrap cars. The car must be built from the student and all parts, other than the mousetrap itself, must be made by students. There are no premade wheels allowed; students must build their entire car. The competition will be on a tile floor (like the school hallways). In addition to performance, each student will explain the rationale behind their design and what specific design features they included to maximize distance. Draft rules are attached; final rules will be published no later than 11:59 p.m., Monday, November 3, 2008 on this website.
The list of construction projects below is tentative and may change. Keep checking back. Sample, draft guidelines for each project are available as attachments but do not yet constitute the final rules. They are provided just to give you an idea of what the project MAY look like.
Mousetrap Cars
Mousetrap cars are completely student built wheeled vehicles which are powered by standard mouse traps. The project teaches practical application of mechanics - especially torque! See sample guidelines for building a mousetrap car here.
Ornithopters
Ornithopters are a balsa wood airplane model that fly by FLAPPING their wings instead of spinning a propeller.
