Students enrolled in honors physics raced their homemade mousetrap cars in the lunch room.  Mousetrap cars are built for either speed or distance, and are fully powered by a single mousetrap.

“We get three chances to send our cars as far as possible,” said Sean Courtney (’15).

Each student had  three trials, and they could modify their car between trials.  The cars will be scored, not only for the distance they go, but also for other aspects such as velocity, time, and the write-up that the builder must have done during the testing process.  The top three with the most points received extra credit.

“Many of the cars, including mine, did not go straight on the first trial, so we had to adjust our cars before the second,” said Miranda Tidwell (’15).

Students received the option to modify their car in any way to make it better between trials.  Almost everyone tweaked little things here and there on their car to make them more successful.  The end results were joyful to everyone, including Mrs. Kruse, the teacher.

“I had a greater time than I imagined, and I hope that I will be able to make another mousetrap car someday,” explained Kacie Crowl (’15).

It was a different way of learning that taught students physics through a hands on experience.  Mrs. Kruse stated that the kids seemed to really understand the material from this activity, and that she will start using hands on more often since it works wonders.