Rube goldberg machine project
For our first STEM project, we were challenged to build a Rube Goldberg machine. A Rube Goldberg machine is composed of a series of simple machines and steps to complete a basic task. Our machine's goal was to ring a bell three times. We built this project over the course of five weeks; We had three planning days, nine building days, and three presentation planning days.
Within our projects there was three distinct paths, the first being a golf ball that rolled down a ramp, through a tube, around a screw, and finally hit the bell. The second and third paths start together with golfballs falling onto levers, then a domino chain reaction. At this point the second path splits off starting with a domino falling into a pulley which then pulls a wedge out from in front of a car. Then the car goes down the ramp, hitting the bell at the bottom. The final path begins with a domino falling into a cup attached to a large domino. This large domino knocks over a series of other dominoes which hit the bell for a third and final time. Our Rube Goldberg utilized all six simple machines: a lever, pulley system, an inclined pane, a screw/spiral, wheel and axle, and a wedge. Four main energy transfers in our machine were: Levers - Potential to Kinetic, Pulley - Potential to Potential, Domino - Potential to Kinetic, and Golfball - Kinetic to Kinetic. Finally, we created a schematic at the beginning of the project, which shows our initial idea, and a final schematic, which shows what we actually ended up creating. |
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Physics Concepts
Force - A "push" or "pull" interaction between two objects in which both objects are asserting a force upon the other
In our project we found the force exerted on and by our levers
Velocity - A vector quantity that describes how quickly an object changes its position
In our project we found the velocity of a ball rolling down a ramp
Acceleration - A vector quantity that describes the rate of change in the velocity of an object
In our project we found the acceleration of a ball going through a screw
Kinetic Energy - The amount of energy an object has due to motion
In our project we found the Kinetic energy of a rolling golf ball
Potential Energy - The amount of energy an object has due to its position
In our project we found the Potential energy of a domino
Work - Work is put into an object when a force exerted on that object causes displacement
In our project we found the work exerted in a pulley system
Mechanical Advantage - A ratio showing the force or distance magnification achieved using a certain tool
In our project we found the Mechanical Advantage of all our simple machines
Momentum - A mass in motion, "How hard would it be to stop this moving object"
In our project we found the momentum of a golf ball
Impulse - A change in momentum, "How hard would it be to start this object moving"
In our project we found the impulse needed to tip a domino
In our project we found the force exerted on and by our levers
Velocity - A vector quantity that describes how quickly an object changes its position
In our project we found the velocity of a ball rolling down a ramp
Acceleration - A vector quantity that describes the rate of change in the velocity of an object
In our project we found the acceleration of a ball going through a screw
Kinetic Energy - The amount of energy an object has due to motion
In our project we found the Kinetic energy of a rolling golf ball
Potential Energy - The amount of energy an object has due to its position
In our project we found the Potential energy of a domino
Work - Work is put into an object when a force exerted on that object causes displacement
In our project we found the work exerted in a pulley system
Mechanical Advantage - A ratio showing the force or distance magnification achieved using a certain tool
In our project we found the Mechanical Advantage of all our simple machines
Momentum - A mass in motion, "How hard would it be to stop this moving object"
In our project we found the momentum of a golf ball
Impulse - A change in momentum, "How hard would it be to start this object moving"
In our project we found the impulse needed to tip a domino
REFLECTION
Overall, I think our project went very well though we still had a few bumps in the road. One of our major problems was in the planning stage, we did not account very well for scale and many things had to be tweaked. One other thing we did not plan was supports for everything. In our schematic we just figured out where we wanted things to go, not how we would get them to stay there. So while building this project we had to work out how to keep beams and ramps in place. Another piece that was especially hard was building the screw/spiral. Our final project had a screw built entirely out of K'nex pieces that took us two full days to complete. In the end, we had a very well built project. Our team was able to work together, as well as separately. This meant we could all be working on one difficult task, or we could be doing three or four easier tasks at the same time. Doing this gave us the ability to implement some very cool ideas. Finally our project is complete and I believe it was quite successful.