Traditional Mousetrap

My grandma has several mousetraps set around her house and I have always wondered how they actually work.  I went about this by rendering my own mousetrap based on the “Victor® Pest Mouse Traps” design and analyzing how that would work.

The purpose of the traditional mousetrap is to maim interloping rodents in domestic human residencies.  There are two simple steps in the process: set-up and mutilation. 

A bait is set on the catch to lure raiding rodents.  After the user has placed the bait on the catch, the hold-down bar is placed under the lip of the catch which is behind the elevated platform.  This increases the tension and potential energy of the hammer.  Since the hammer is attached to the spring, the hammer retains the same wound force of the spring and the terminal wire of the hammer voraciously pushes against the hold-down bar in the positive y-direction.  This stationary torque and stored potential energy is anticipating the release of the hold-down bar.

 When the rodent attempts to grab and consume the bait, the catch lowers which cause the lip to rise; the lip then releases the hold-down bar.  This action allows the potential energy stored in the spring to be released by the hold-down bar.  The hammer then applies a fatal ceasing force once its terminal or side wire hits the invading rodent, rotating approximately 180° in 3 milliseconds.