Little Moe MTV

The Little Moe kit from Doc Fizzix is designed for students who have limited access to tools or are new to building mousetrap vehicles, and it requires only glue for construction. Little Moe creates one of the fastest mousetrap cars and travels distances from 15 to 30 meters (49 to 98 feet). Little Moe can be built in less than 30 minutes for most first-time builders. The kit is predrilled and ready to assemble and includes the following materials:

Two Pre-Drilled Balsa Wood Side Rails (8" x 1/2" x 1/4")
Two Brass Tubing Axles (6 x 3/16")
One Brass Tubing Lever Arm (6 x 1/8")
Four DVD Wheels
Eight Rubber DVD/CD Spacers
Four Metal Thrush Washers
One Victor Mousetrap
One Zip Lock Axle Hook
One 36" long piece of Kevlar String
One Top Secret Construction Guide and Performance Tips Sheet
REQUIRES: CA Glue and Needle Nose Pliers
SPECS: Length: 13" (330mm), Width: 6" (152mm)

What is a mousetrap powered car and how does it work? A mousetrap-powered racer is a vehicle that is powered by the energy of a set mousetrap's spring. The most basic design is as follows: One end of a string is tied to the tip of a lever arm that is attached to the mousetrap's "snapper arm". The other end of the string has a loop that is designed to catch a hook attached to a drive axle. Once the loop is placed over the axle hook, the string is wound around the drive axle by turning the wheels in the opposite direction to the vehicle's intended motion. As the string is wound around the axle, the snapper's lever arm is pulled closer to the drive axle causing the mousetrap's spring to wind up & store energy. When the drive wheels are released, the string is pulled off the drive axle by the mousetrap causing the wheels to rotate.

Saturday SECME 10/3 MTV Technical Drawing

There will be a special Seminole SECME meeting on Saturday, October 3rd from 9 AM to 1 PM in Mr. Batchelor's room. The topic will be Mousetrap Vehicle Technical Drawings. Any student who attends Wednesday's meeting to build a "Little Moe" MTV kit MUST attend the followup meeting for the tech draw on Saturday.

2009 SECME ENGINEERING DESIGN COMPETITION GUIDELINES: MOUSETRAP CAR DRAWING
As a part of the Engineering Design Competition, each team is required to prepare a scaled drawing depicting the car that they have designed and built. The maximum number of points for the Engineering Design Competition Mousetrap Car Drawing is 50. Any entry not meeting the following requirements will be automatically disqualified.

1. The Mousetrap Car Drawing entry is required to illustrate the actual mousetrap car built by the team (photographs and computer generated drawings will NOT be allowed).

2. The size of the engineering paper is required to be the standard 18" X 24" (plain, non-grid, (17-pound vellum) sheet. (Allowing for the required 1" border on all sides, the actual drawing is to cover an exposed area of 16" X 22" of the paper.) No mounting, no frames allowed. But the drawing may be laminated for protection if desired.

3. All dimensions are required to be illustrated on the drawing.

4. The scale and the units are required to be indicated on the drawing.

5. The team's Mousetrap Car Drawing is required to show front, side, and top views.
Excerpt of technical drawing for mousetrap vehicle
6. All parts of the car are required to be labeled.

7. Ink pens, pencils or markers may be used.

8. A 4" x 6" title legend is to be drawn in the bottom left corner of the drawing inside the 1” border with the following information is required:
Team name
School Name and Address
Team Members' Names, Addresses, and Grade Levels
School Coordinator’s Name
Date of Competition

At all compeitions, the Mousetrap Car Drawing will be judged on:
RESEMBLANCE
The accuracy to which the Mousetrap Car Drawing illustrates the actual Mousetrap Car designed and built by the team. (1-15 points)
SCALE
The proportions in the Drawing correctly relate to and represent the team's actual Mousetrap Car. (1-15 points)
NAMING/LABELING
The correctness of the names/labels of all of the parts in the Drawing of the Mousetrap Car. (1-10 points)
APPEARANCE/NEATNESS
The quality of the visual presentation of the Mousetrap Car Drawing entry (1-10 points)

What is Success?

To laugh often and much;

To win the respect of intelligent people
and the affection of children;

To earn the appreciation of honest critics
and endure the betrayal of false friends;

To appreciate beauty;
To find the best in others;

To leave the world a bit better, whether by
a healthy child, a garden patch
or a redeemed social condition;

To know even one life has breathed
easier because you have lived;

This is to have succeeded.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Make Magazine - Mousetrap Powered Vehicle

SECME Saturday Seminars: Mousetrap Vehicles

Mousetrap powered vehicles (MTVs) are an exercise in the application of simple machines on a small vehicle. Students design MTVs powered only by the energy of mousetraps. By changing the length of a lever, the diameter of a wheel or axle, a gear ratio, or other variables, students observe and predict the performance of the vehicles. Science • Simple machines • Force and motion • Newton’s laws Technology • Problem solving skills • Systems • Troubleshooting Engineering • Technological design • Data analysis and prediction • Materials science Math • Circumference • Ratios • Measurements
MTVs also help students practice cooperative behavior, develop spatial awareness, and learn to budget time. The Seminole SECME students will be building the "Little Moe" MTV kit from Pitsco Education at our next meeting.

Seminole SECME attended the mousetrap vehicle design seminar hosted by Diamond View Elementary. SECME school coordinators for Seminole Ridge Mr. Erich Landstrom and Mr. Ed Batchelor are very proud of work done by Ryan Hamilton and Brandy Milano. GO HAWKS!

Thank you to our hosts Diamond View Elementary, SECME district coordinator Mr. Bruce Wear, Mr. Glenn Cunningham and the engineers from Hazen and Sawyer.

College and Career Night @ PBCHS on 10/14

On Wednesday evening, October 14, 2009, from 6:00 to 8:00 in their gym Palm Beach Central High School will host over 150 colleges, universities, technical schools, military recruiters, and apprentice programs. Presenters will share their expertise and experience to assist students in establishing post-secondary goals. The event is free to the public, and all high school students and their parents are welcome to attend.

Directions: I-95 to Forest Hill Blvd. Go west. School is between Floridas' Turnpike on the right, and The Mall at Wellington Green (SR-7/441).

Flyer for Oct. 14

What's Your IQ?

excerpted from Tamim Ansary's "What's Your IQ"
http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/Columns/?Article=IQMain

There is an international organization of people who have scored in the top 2 percent of a certain type of IQ test. The organization is called Mensa, and it's something between a social club and a badge of honor. A few years ago, there was a Mensa convention in San Francisco and a bunch of Mensa members were lunching at a local café. They discovered that their salt shaker contained pepper and their pepper shaker was full of salt. How could they swap the contents of the bottles without spilling, and using only the implements at hand? Clearly this was a job for Mensa! The group debated and presented ideas, and finally came up with a brilliant solution involving a napkin, a straw, and an empty saucer. They called the waitress over to dazzle her with their solution.

"Ma'am," they said, "We couldn't help but notice that pepper shaker contains salt and the salt shaker--"

"Oh," the waitress interrupted. "Sorry about that." She unscrewed the caps of both bottles, switched them, and said, "Will that be one check or separate?"

Congratulations Team Trojan!

JOIN SECME!


GET SMART!


HAVE FUN!


WIN PRIZES!


Congratulations to Matt Schulz, Brandy Milano, Zack Wallace and Ryan Hamilton. In the Motorized Toy Car challenge, Team Trojan designed an electric gear driven toy capable of driving up a 5 inch long ramp with an incline of 30 degrees. Force and friction, simple machines, levers and gears, torque and design are the core scientific concepts covered in this challenge.

The SAE A World In Motion program has been working with SECME for years in providing educators STEM education. At the SECME Summer 2009 Institute in Florida, A World In Motion program developer Ken Francis presented all of the AWIM challenges. The SECME Summer Institute provides educators, administrators, parents and students innovative STEM Educational programs and professional development.

Cassini Scientist for a Day Essay Contest, 8th ed. Fall 2009

Cassini Scientist for a Day, Fall 2009: Introduction


Cassini Scientist for a Day, Fall 2009: Target 1 - Saturn & Rings


Cassini Scientist for a Day, Fall 2009: Target 2 - Tethys & Rings


Cassini Scientist for a Day, Fall 2009: Target 3 - Titan

What's Up for September 2009? Jupiter.