tessstory Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 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) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cameron marical Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iNow Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 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? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrDNA Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 (edited) 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, 2009 by DrDNA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iNow Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 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.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrDNA Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 Of course, Captain Kirk would probably just design a mouse trap based upon conventional (off the shelf) helicopter technology.......and be done with it......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iNow Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 Yeah, but James Tiberius Kirk would probably have failed Tessstory's class when doing so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrDNA Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 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'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tessstory Posted February 18, 2009 Author Share Posted February 18, 2009 wow. There's a lot to consider there. For the blades what materials do u think I should use? Merged post follows: Consecutive posts mergedI meant for the propeller! LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrDNA Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iNow Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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