What is a Rube Goldberg Machine?
A Rube Goldberg machine is a contraption or device that is deliberately over-engineered or overdone to perform a very simple task in a very complicated fashion, including a chain reaction. The expression is named after American inventor Rube Goldberg.
A Rube Goldberg machine is a contraption or device that is deliberately over-engineered or overdone to perform a very simple task in a very complicated fashion, including a chain reaction. The expression is named after American inventor Rube Goldberg.
Project Outline
The objective of building our Rube Goldberg's is to demonstrate simple machines and energy transfers in a machine. Our machines have to meet several standards as well. They are:
1. Having at least five simple machines (lever, pulley, wedge, screw, wheel and axle, or inclined plane)
2. Having at least four energy transfers (potential energy to kinetic energy)
3. Having a minimum of ten steps
4. Successful construction and testing of the project
5. Presentation (project history, schematic diagram, explanations and calculations of each step)\
Project History
Day One:
On day Juan, we put in 2x4 to reinforce the two pieces of plywood so it would be more stable.
Day Two:
On day Two, we added a platform for our domino's to line up on. We also started the first inclined plane that the ball would roll down.
Day Three:
On day Three, we finished the inclined plane and added a wall so the ball wouldn't roll off. We added another inclined plane after that, that went the other direction. The ball needed to change directions so we added a wall to stop and let the ball change directions.
Day Four:
On day Four, we made a lever that the first ball would hit, the ball would transfer it's energy to the black marble on the other side of the lever. After the first ball hits the lever, we made a stop for the ball.
Day Five:
On day Five, we made a ramp to guide the black marble into a pulley system. We tied a block of wood to the other side of pulley.
Day Six:
On day Six, we built a pulley system. The black marble would fall into a cup, activation the pulley.
Day Seven:
On day Seven, we built a for the pulley system to fall onto, when the cup falls on one side, a ball is released into a screw.
Day Eight:
On day Eight, we attached the plastic screw tube. And carved out a track for the ball to roll onto.
Day Nine:
On day Nine, We made the balloon popper stand and attached it to the plywood. We also got a stick to hold the balloon popper in place before it knocks it over.
Day Ten:
On day Ten, we finalized the project and tweaked it until it worked most of the time. We also started painting.
Day Eleven:
On the final day, we made our poster and our presentation supplies. We practiced and also made sure that the project was fully functional.
Day One:
On day Juan, we put in 2x4 to reinforce the two pieces of plywood so it would be more stable.
Day Two:
On day Two, we added a platform for our domino's to line up on. We also started the first inclined plane that the ball would roll down.
Day Three:
On day Three, we finished the inclined plane and added a wall so the ball wouldn't roll off. We added another inclined plane after that, that went the other direction. The ball needed to change directions so we added a wall to stop and let the ball change directions.
Day Four:
On day Four, we made a lever that the first ball would hit, the ball would transfer it's energy to the black marble on the other side of the lever. After the first ball hits the lever, we made a stop for the ball.
Day Five:
On day Five, we made a ramp to guide the black marble into a pulley system. We tied a block of wood to the other side of pulley.
Day Six:
On day Six, we built a pulley system. The black marble would fall into a cup, activation the pulley.
Day Seven:
On day Seven, we built a for the pulley system to fall onto, when the cup falls on one side, a ball is released into a screw.
Day Eight:
On day Eight, we attached the plastic screw tube. And carved out a track for the ball to roll onto.
Day Nine:
On day Nine, We made the balloon popper stand and attached it to the plywood. We also got a stick to hold the balloon popper in place before it knocks it over.
Day Ten:
On day Ten, we finalized the project and tweaked it until it worked most of the time. We also started painting.
Day Eleven:
On the final day, we made our poster and our presentation supplies. We practiced and also made sure that the project was fully functional.
Physics & Engineering Concepts:
We put in many different concepts into our Rube Goldberg machines. In class, we learned the ideas of mechanical advantage, work, force, impulse, momentum, potential energy, kinetic energy etc. Then, we used those ideas to our machines and calculated them.
Mechanical Advantage: (input distance / output distance), which is how much a machine makes work easier. We were able to calculate the MA's of multiple simple machines in our project.
Potential and Kinetic energy: (▵PE = ▵KE = W) Potential and kinetic energy are equal to each other, but some of the energy is lost to friction and air resistance.
Work: (force x distance)
Simple Machines: In our project, we had to use five different types of simple machines: the lever, pulley, wedge, screw, and inclined plane. Integrating these into our project made it a lot easier for us to understand how to use them, and what they are.
We put in many different concepts into our Rube Goldberg machines. In class, we learned the ideas of mechanical advantage, work, force, impulse, momentum, potential energy, kinetic energy etc. Then, we used those ideas to our machines and calculated them.
Mechanical Advantage: (input distance / output distance), which is how much a machine makes work easier. We were able to calculate the MA's of multiple simple machines in our project.
Potential and Kinetic energy: (▵PE = ▵KE = W) Potential and kinetic energy are equal to each other, but some of the energy is lost to friction and air resistance.
Work: (force x distance)
Simple Machines: In our project, we had to use five different types of simple machines: the lever, pulley, wedge, screw, and inclined plane. Integrating these into our project made it a lot easier for us to understand how to use them, and what they are.
Refection: I believe that our project went pretty well. We had a few sections that slowed us down, but we completed the project on time. Our group was always on task, and I was really surprised of how focused we were during work periods. Throughout the course of this first project, I've learned how to collaborate with different people. Most importantly, I've learned that taking leadership, and letting others lead is important. As we went on, I became so much more familiar with all the tools, and that was really great. As a group, we didn't manage our time as well as we could have. We spent too much time working on the parts that we didn't nee, and since we had to scrap multiple steps, we fell short and only had eight steps. A week and a half before the deadline, our group had to drop our things and add in two last-minute steps to the project. We added the second pulley that would raise the paper, and then the dominoes as a last-minute effort. Although it worked out, everything was a panicked hassle. Despite these small shortcomings, our project was an overall success and I learned so much from the entire process.