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Ivy Kramer, a sophomore student at Yosemite High School, recently won the mouse trap vehicle competition among physics students at the school. The vehicle she designed and built, which was powered by the spring of a mousetrap being released, traveled 91 feet, four inches.

Gary Sconce, YHS science teacher, said this is the second best distance in the nine years his students have engaged in the competition. Ivy’s vehicle traveled from one end of the YHS gymnasium, stopping just inches short of the wall at the other end. A few years ago, a student’s vehicle traveled all with way to the other wall.

Mr. Sconce says this is a wonderful project for his students and it "really brings out the creativity. It’s amazing to see how the students interpret the project."

The purpose of the lesson is to demonstrate how to convert the potential energy of one mousetrap spring to the rotational energy of a vehicle.

"This requires higher order thinking skills," Mr. Sconce says. "What we have seen here today is the work of future designers of Mars landing vehicles and robot engineers."