How to Make a Mouse Trap As an Investigatory Project
An investigatory project records all the parts of an experiment, recording all information used, obtained and hypothesized. Usually this includes a written copy of your findings along with a visual demonstration or diagram of the experiment. Creating a mousetrap as an investigatory project involves discovering how well your mousetrap works and how to improve upon it. Always design humane traps; killing mice for a science project is not ethical.
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Things You'll Need
- Notebook
- Pen
- 2 liter soda bottles
- Utility knife
- Binder clips
- Cheesecloth
- Sand
- Sweet almond oil
- Hard-back books
- Bread
- Peanut butter
- Mice
- Poster board
- Pens
Instructions
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1
Write your objective in your notebook. It should read something like: "Designing and building a mousetrap and improving upon the design." Next comes the hypothesis, in which you write what you think your findings will be. It should say something like: "Mice fall into traps that are easy to get into, whether or not they contain enticing food."
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2
Build your mousetrap. Clean and rinse out three 2 liter soda bottles. Remove the labels and adhesive and cut each bottle in half widthwise. Flip the top of each bottle over and slip it back down inside the bottom of the bottle so the bottles look like they have funnels inside of them.
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3
Fold a piece of cheesecloth into a 1 inch strip and wrap it around the cut edges along each bottle. Clip the bottles together and the cheesecloth in place with binder clips. This ensures the mice don't hurt themselves climbing into the trap.
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4
Pour sand into all three traps. This weighs down the traps. Grease the inside of each funnel with a little sweet almond oil. This oil has no scent and will make the traps slippery, preventing the mice from escaping.
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Wrap cheesecloth around the body of one of the traps, slipping the top edge under the binder clips. Place a little bread in the bottom of this trap. The bread should have no herbs or heavy scent. It should also be dry. Place this trap on the floor of an empty room.
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Put peanut butter in the bottom of the second trap. Place this trap on the windowsill of the same empty room. Stack books from the floor to just under the windowsill. Place an inch-wide strip of cheesecloth under one of the binder clips. This should be the hardest trap to get into.
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Place the third trap on its side in a corner. Don't put anything in this trap. This trap is the easiest to get into, but contains no food.
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Release a mouse into the room, shutting the door. The room should be totally empty and free of "bolt holes." Wait about 10 minutes and check on the mouse. Record in your notebook whether or not the mouse is in a trap and which one it chose.
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9
Release 2 more mice into the room, one at a time. Record which trap each mouse picks. Make sure to reset the traps after each mouse is removed from a trap.
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10
Record whether or not your hypothesis is correct, partially correct, or incorrect. If the mice end up in the empty trap, you were correct. If they end up in the trap with the bread, you were partially correct. If all of the mice make their way into the third trap, you were incorrect.
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11
Draw a diagram of your experiment on a poster board. Include where the traps were and label what was in each and how they were set up. Draw pictures of how many mice you found in each trap.
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12
Bring a sample trap as well as a mouse to your demonstration. Place food in the trap and allow the mouse to find and enter the trap. Then discuss you hypothesis and the outcome with your teacher and fellow students.
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References
- Photo Credit mouse image by timur1970 from Fotolia.com
