The Weight-Powered Vehicle (WPV)
HOW FAR CAN A CAR GO ON ONE FOOT-POUND OF ENERGY?
BY RICHARD B. GRAEBER
Photograph by Ed Troxell
After my son won his high school science class mousetrap-powered vehicle (MPV) competition, I asked him if he knew what a foot-pound of energy was. He gave a vague answer that didn’t really nail it. Admittedly, a foot-pound (ft-lb) is an abstract concept — where do you get a pound of feet from anyway?
To illustrate what a foot-pound of energy is and what it can do, I designed a vehicle that derives its propulsion from a falling weight (rather than an unwinding spring as used in an MPV).
This small car, which I call ...
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