Written by Jospeh Elbaz

Last week at Valley Torah High School, the Junior Honor students partook in one of the many experiments that Valley Torah offers: the mousetrap car. Students were tasked with making a car that travelled 5 meters long with the power of just one Victor Mousetrap, which proved difficult for many. In making this car, many skills were learned, such as creativity, craftsmanship, and a true understanding of some of the wonders of physics. 

The car itself was not the difficult part to create; rather, getting it moving straight and for a long enough distance was a real challenge. In doing so, students helped each other, sharing materials and work ideas to all make their own individual cars. On race day, they lined them up, and most succeeded in reaching the finish line, which was 5 meters away, while some didn’t. That failure gave room for improvement, and students were tasked with improving their cars and giving them a second chance, which almost everyone ultimately did correctly. 

The way the car worked was with the mousetrap being wound up to push either the front or back wheels, with a certain material that most people used as string. Then, the mousetrap would fall down, but very slowly, pushing the car to its ultimate destination. Most people used CD discs as wheels, which had better traction and were easier to put on the car, but others used things such as bottle caps or real wheels. In the end, it worked out, with the cars swiftly moving in the right direction, just like the students who made them. This experiment displayed just one of the many ways that Valley Torah High School bestows its students with a deeper understanding of different topics, such as physics and mechanics.