PROJECT DESCRIPTION
"A Rube Goldberg machine is a contraption, invention, or device that is deliberately over-engineered to perform a simple task in a complicated fashion."
To start our Rube Goldberg machine, we brainstormed ideas for our theme. We took three days to decide on a theme and finish a rough draft of our initial blueprint. We had nine days in class to work on the machine as well as multiple lunch periods. The class had an additional three days to finish calculations, a final blueprint, and compose a final presentation. The project's requirements included ten steps, five simple machines, and four energy transfers.
Our machine's theme was a fair, or a type of amusement park. The first step was an inclined plane, or a ramp. The next step was a pulley. The marble would go down the ramp and fall into a cup that had been attached to the pulley. The pulley would turn our "Ferris Wheel" which was a wheel and axle. There would be a marble resting on one of the seats of the wheel. The step after the wheel was a screw, a tube that was turned downwards. The marble resting on the wheel would fall into the screw. After the screw, a weight was pushed off of a pulley, which would in turn move our "carousel". The carousel would push a tennis ball and then hit a hammer, which would then move a lever. The lever would pull a string and pull the handle of a bell.
"A Rube Goldberg machine is a contraption, invention, or device that is deliberately over-engineered to perform a simple task in a complicated fashion."
To start our Rube Goldberg machine, we brainstormed ideas for our theme. We took three days to decide on a theme and finish a rough draft of our initial blueprint. We had nine days in class to work on the machine as well as multiple lunch periods. The class had an additional three days to finish calculations, a final blueprint, and compose a final presentation. The project's requirements included ten steps, five simple machines, and four energy transfers.
Our machine's theme was a fair, or a type of amusement park. The first step was an inclined plane, or a ramp. The next step was a pulley. The marble would go down the ramp and fall into a cup that had been attached to the pulley. The pulley would turn our "Ferris Wheel" which was a wheel and axle. There would be a marble resting on one of the seats of the wheel. The step after the wheel was a screw, a tube that was turned downwards. The marble resting on the wheel would fall into the screw. After the screw, a weight was pushed off of a pulley, which would in turn move our "carousel". The carousel would push a tennis ball and then hit a hammer, which would then move a lever. The lever would pull a string and pull the handle of a bell.
CONTENT
Six Simple Machines:
1) Inclined plane- a ramp (illustrated through the "roller coaster" in the first step)
2) Screw- a downward spiral (shown in the tube after the Ferris wheel)
3) Wheel and Axle- a wheel spun through pressure exerted on the axle (shown in the Ferris wheel)
4) Pulley- moves an object by pulling another mass down (shown in between the ramp and Ferris wheel as the second step)
5) Wedge- separates two masses
6) Lever- a seesaw, force is applied one end, while the other end pushes an object (the hammer at the end which rings the bell)
Physics:
Force=mass*acceleration
Work=force*distance
Kinetic Energy= 1/2mv^2
Potential Energy=Kinetic Energy=mass*gravity*height
Mechanical Advantage=force of the load/force of the effort
Velocity=change in distance/change in time
Acceleration=change in velocity/change in time
REFLECTION
Our group had issues with collaborating together and communicating ideas in the beginning, as we were unclear about each other's visions for the project. We also hadn't used our time as well as we could have, the machine was more complex than we had expected it to be and we spent multiple lunch periods attempting to make it fully functional. We tried our best to make the machine work reliably, but unfortunately it only did so once, shown in the video above. More "tweaking" was needed than we had thought previously, our final blueprint shows how it differs from our original plan. I found that I need to be more open to new ideas and have a more positive outlook. While this project had been the most fun so far, I would never want to replicate it, despite the fixes I would want to make.
Although the machine only worked once without assistance, I believe that my group developed a better understanding of the simple machines and how they work through this project.
I worked on this project with Sadie Ikeda, Jackson Hilton, and Hunter Gray.
Six Simple Machines:
1) Inclined plane- a ramp (illustrated through the "roller coaster" in the first step)
2) Screw- a downward spiral (shown in the tube after the Ferris wheel)
3) Wheel and Axle- a wheel spun through pressure exerted on the axle (shown in the Ferris wheel)
4) Pulley- moves an object by pulling another mass down (shown in between the ramp and Ferris wheel as the second step)
5) Wedge- separates two masses
6) Lever- a seesaw, force is applied one end, while the other end pushes an object (the hammer at the end which rings the bell)
Physics:
Force=mass*acceleration
Work=force*distance
Kinetic Energy= 1/2mv^2
Potential Energy=Kinetic Energy=mass*gravity*height
Mechanical Advantage=force of the load/force of the effort
Velocity=change in distance/change in time
Acceleration=change in velocity/change in time
REFLECTION
Our group had issues with collaborating together and communicating ideas in the beginning, as we were unclear about each other's visions for the project. We also hadn't used our time as well as we could have, the machine was more complex than we had expected it to be and we spent multiple lunch periods attempting to make it fully functional. We tried our best to make the machine work reliably, but unfortunately it only did so once, shown in the video above. More "tweaking" was needed than we had thought previously, our final blueprint shows how it differs from our original plan. I found that I need to be more open to new ideas and have a more positive outlook. While this project had been the most fun so far, I would never want to replicate it, despite the fixes I would want to make.
Although the machine only worked once without assistance, I believe that my group developed a better understanding of the simple machines and how they work through this project.
I worked on this project with Sadie Ikeda, Jackson Hilton, and Hunter Gray.