The Ultimate Mousetrap-powered Car Quiz

The energy of a mousetrap's powerful spring is gradually used -- unlike the instant unleashing when capturing mice -- to propel a miniature car forward.

While there have been novel round items used as the wheels on mousetrap-powered cars, Oreo cookies or any other brand are not advised -- said wheels are likely to go missing sooner or later, as a result of either human or rodent plundering.

In the most common mousetrap vehicle design, it's the pulling of a length of string, wrapped around a drive axle, that causes the wheels to spin.

Since the idea with mousetrap-powered cars is usually to see how fast or how far they can go, weight is a major consideration. At the same time, the car needs to be sturdy enough to withstand the acceleration forces caused by the released energy of the mousetrap. Therefore, balsa wood and poster board are ideal building materials.

Four and three wheels might be easy enough to envision. But two? Yep, that's right: A mousetrap can be suspended from the axle between two large wheels and made to work very similar to the more conventional car designs.

Mousetrap-powered cars don't make much noise and don't get very high off the ground without a ramp. So the most competitive area in which to put them to the test is usually distance -- therefore, the answer is "farthest."

Mousetrap-powered cars bring to life many lessons about potential energy, acceleration, friction and mass -- all topics within the realm of physics.

Peanut butter may be a good attractant for mice, but on your mousetrap-powered car, it would probably only make a mess. To get a little easier rotation at the axles, you might try a small dab of graphite powder. Alas, the answer to the question is "false."

The axles are the shafts running through or beneath the car and are connected to the wheels. When the axles spin, so do the wheels.

Pen barrels provide a low-friction surround to help the car's wheel axles to spin more freely.

A hot glue gun is an easy way to affix lots of parts to one another, including the mousetrap to the car body.

Additional power -- like that provided by the thrust of a rapidly deflating balloon -- violates the main premise of mousetrap car competitions, which is to see how much useful work competitors can extract from one novel source: the mousetrap.

The Victor brand, with its open, conventional design, proven power and wide availability has made it a favorite of mousetrap-powered car builders everywhere.

When built with lightweight, low-resistance wheels and a low-profile body and run on a smooth and level surface, some mousetrap-powered cars have achieved distances exceeding 300 feet (91.4 meters) -- with a single trip of the trap!

While it's certainly possible to suffer a purple pointer finger or two when handling the business end of a mousetrap, there's really no need to (if you're careful). And if you enjoy the challenge of building things and learning how they work, a mousetrap-powered car can be a fun and rewarding project -- whether you're young or old.

Some mousetrap-powered car builders have equipped their vehicles with "all-wheel-drive" by connecting mousetraps to both the front and rear wheels.

The powerful spring is what stores the energy of a mousetrap-powered car. By ingeniously rigging it to the wheels with string, you can put the spring's energy to work by directing it to move the car forward.

The shiny surface of a CD might look pretty cool as a wheel, but it has practically no relationship to the performance of a mousetrap-powered car.

Keeping the weight down by using light but sturdy materials is perhaps the most important thing to remember if you want a mousetrap-powered car that goes either far or fast.

Even given our great advocacy of "reduce, reuse, recycle," the answer has little to do with giving those forgotten old tunes a new spin. The answer is "reduce rolling resistance," as the thin edge of a CD or DVD offers great efficiency for a small craft -- like a mousetrap-powered car.