What is the force of a mousetrap?

Question

I now have to do a mouse trap car project, and it occured to me that to really get the fastest, most accurate, or strongest mousetap car, it would be helpful to know the exact force that a mousetrap exerts. I realize different mousetraps have different forces, but does anyone know what the force of a mousetrap is, or where to find it, or how to find it?

Answer 1

You really don't need the force as much as you need to determine the energy stored in the spring. You want to convert that potential energy to kinetic energy. For simple applications you can assume that all of the energy is conserved. Search the internet for Hooke's Law for Torsion Springs to get the potential energy equation. Set that equal to 1/2*mass*velocity^2 and that will give you kinetic energy. Instead of force you actualy want to find out what torque can be generated. This equation is of course Torque = Force * distance. You want to generate as much torque as possible, but you don't want to generate so much torque that you break the friction force between the wheel and the ground. This problem can be as complex as you want it to be. I am an engineer, but if you are not you may want to test a few configurations and not worry so much about the math. Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Enough to break a mouse's neck

Answer 3

It is all in the spring. To find it, bait the trap and then try to take the cheese. I guarantee you will find it. OUCH!!!!!