Design Stage:
Brainiac: two axles, heavy, mouse trap OFF of car, mousetrap tied to black base, racecar launched from mousetrap lever, four wheels, lots of parts used, most weight in the back, traction made by black plastic wheels, focuses on weight of the car to drive it farther
Visualize It:
Build Stage:
Build It - 
The Price of Glory: It's worth $23 (23 parts)
Test (Compete) Stage:
Each car will compete in two events. Generate your design accordingly.
1) The Distance Event: Compete for the furthest distance. Teams will race one at a time and have up to 3 attempts to achieve the longest distance. We will race on the tiles of the classroom unless the class decides we need more space. Your best result will be marked with a piece of masking tape. The marked location is where the car comes to rest (cars have been known to roll back at times!).
Our car traveled a distance of 15 feet.
2) The Acceleration Event: Cars will compete head to head in a competitive bracket. The winner of each duel will move on to the next round. The course is 24" long.
Our car had a poor accelereation and was not able to be a feirce of a competitior as the other teams.
Competitor - Compete in the 4th Annual Mousetrap Racecar Challenge.
Feedback:
+
-it gets good acceleration and distance
-it rides completely straight
-friction is the only thing working against the car (no strings to brake it)
change
-make it lighter for longer distance
?
-How can you keep the car completely on the ground upon launch?
!
-make it heavier to weigh it down so all wheels stay on ground
Iterate Stage:
Re-Work
-add less parts so that it can accelerate faster.
Game Changer
-ALL wheels must stay in contact with surface being raced upon
-spending money ($1 per part) must be between 10-25 parts
Name It:
-Led foot can become "Cheetah Speed"
-Heavy foot can become "Lion Speed"
Leave it Cleaner than you Found it:
Our car was completely disassembled and properly stored in the correct boxes of the parts. No leftover parts, scraps, or trash were left at our station.
Design/Build: A Design/Build process is the cycle of how solutions are designed and built. This process includes consulting, analyzing, building and financing, planning of building, and building management and delivery. This cycle is constantly repeated until the product is near perfection. How did your experience with this challenge relate to that? This challenge required consulting with teammates, analyzing possible building techniques, planning of building the racecar, actually building the racecar, and then fine-tuning your product to produce the greatest results. This process is needed and utilized in every technical innovation career. Engineers must think of how to solve the problem and then constantly revise their first idea for maximum potential.
