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Mousetrap Cars Test Newton’s Law of Motion

InstagramNews February 1, 2024

7th graders put Newton’s laws of motion, mechanical advantage, and friction into practice with the construction of mousetrap cars!

The goal was to see which car could travel the furthest distance based on the potential energy stored in a mousetrap spring.

This unit is a collaboration between science and colab — students learn the physics behind work, energy, simple machines, and mechanical advantage in science class, and then use that knowledge to build a wind-up car that travels as far as possible using the energy from a single mousetrap spring in colab class.

Our longest distance this year was 25.36m thanks to its incredible mechanical advantage. Our two runner-up teams employed a different strategy, using Newton’s 1st Law to coast across the gym.