For my science project, we have to make a mousetrap powered helicopter. Not sure how the helicopter's going to fly. Anyone's got any ideas. (helicopter size and material does not matter)

helicopter size?!. well. itd be quite a feat to engineer a helicopter off of mousetraps, any size. but, i think its possible. itd take alot of mousetraps though.

Break it down into its component parts and start from there. From a really high-level:

 

Why does a helicopter fly? It has a spinning set of blades.

What is a mousetrap? It is a spring loaded bar that can hold potential energy and release it quickly.

 

Now... how do you translate the spring/mousetrap's energy into movement of a set of rotor blades?

Does the "helicopter" have to have rotating blades or can it use another principle to achieve/maintain altitude?

Must it maintain altitude or just achieve altitude....if the former, for how long?

 

You may have to get outside the "box"...

Edited February 16, 200916 yr by DrDNA

Reading DrDNAs post made me think that, in addition to using mousetraps or their springs to get the rotors spinning, you could use a mousetrap as a launcher... to get it off the ground initially by using the thrust of the snap. Hmmm..

Of course, Captain Kirk would probably just design a mouse trap based upon conventional (off the shelf) helicopter technology.......and be done with it.........

Yeah, but James Tiberius Kirk would probably have failed Tessstory's class when doing so.

I think that would depend entirely on the teacher and the constraints imposed by such teacher.

 

Mouse + mouse activated switch + razor blades attached to battery operated helicopter blades = mouse tartare and a definite A+++ in my grading book.

 

If you're a member of PETA, one might consider having the helicoptor carry the captured mouse safely out of harm's way.

 

In any event, the REAL point, and what I am try to communicate is, an 'A+' solution probably lives somewhere between conventional thinking and the slicing, dicing 'Mouseomatic'.

wow. There's a lot to consider there.

For the blades what materials do u think I should use?

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I meant for the propeller! LOL

Depends on how big it is going to be I suppose.....

I don't think that Styrofoam will hold up, even if painted or varnished.

 

Painted/varnished soft wood (balsa?) probably....

But I strongly suggest that you go to your local hobby store and look around.

See what is available and commonly used for flying things with whirling blades.

Also, ask the guys there what they suggest.

Maybe this will give you some ideas:

http://www.boingboing.net/2008/04/25/make-a-mousetrap-pow.html

 

You can probably use the ideas he gives to move the wheels to make the rotor blades spin.

 

 

Also, remember that the shape of the rotor blades matters. Wrong shape will result in no lift.