Physics Students Team up with Engineering Students from UNCA
2.27.13
Students in a physics class at Asheville School recently teamed up with two engineering students at UNC-Asheville for help in constructing miniature cars made out of found objects and mousetraps.
The weeklong assignment was a capstone project for the physics students after their study of mechanics, said Physics Teacher Laura Lawrence.
“The students were only given a mousetrap, string, and glue and had to come up with an original design for their car using materials from their room and from materials they could purchase across the street,” Lawrence said.
Dakota Lazenby and Stephen Barnwel, engineering students at UNCA who volunteered to help with the design process, said they were impressed by the student’s creations.
“There are a lot of creative ideas from the students,” said Barnwel, an engineering major at UNCA. “It’s a really awesome group of kids.”
Lazenby, a junior engineering major at UNCA, said offering to help the Asheville School students with their project reminded him of the time he built his own prize winning mousetrap car.
“It’s kind of nostalgia for me,” Lazenby said. “I had the same project in high school and I was actually a second place winner in the competition. It’s always an interesting process to see everyone’s ingenuity with mousetrap cars. Most of these students are doing quite well with their designs.”
Asheville School physics students Meredith Dickinson and Isabelle Melon built the mousetrap car that won the race by completing a five meter course in 2.59 seconds.
View more photos in the online Blues Media Gallery.
