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Implementation of a MouseTrap Car as a Teaching Tool to Study Damped Oscillations

Abstract:

The MouseTrap Car (MC) is a manually crafted vehicle that operates using stored potential energy in a spring. The MC has traditionally served as a valuable tool in STEM environments for experimentally explaining physical phenomena such as energy conservation and motion. This paper presents a novel implementation of the MC as a device capable of demonstrating damped oscillations, serving as an educational tool for modeling this type of motion. A didactic sequence has been designed utilizing the MC to study the characteristics of damped motion through active learning methodologies.