Rube Goldberg Machine
Our first project in STEM this year was creating a Rube Goldberg machine. A Rube Goldberg machine is a very complex machine used to do a simple task.
Our machine consisted of 5 different simple machines, 10 steps, and 4 separate energy transfers. The simple machines that we used were the inclined plane, lever, wedge, pulley, and the screw. The goal of our machine was to pop a balloon.
Our machine starts by having one of our group members drop a steel marble down the yellow inclined plane. The marble then tilts over the blue lever and continues down the orange inclined plane. After the orange inclined plane, the marble hits another marble, sending the 2nd marble into the screw. The marble falls out of the screw into a cup which activates the pulley. The pulley tilts the purple inclined plane, which releases a 3rd marble. That marble continues down 2 more inclined planes before it reaches a very unique inclined plane. The next inclined plane is lined with lots of copper wire and a few metal pipes. When the marble hits the pipes it makes a pretty cool sound. The marble continues onto the last inclined plane before striking a wedge. The wedge has a nail through it and when the wedge falls the nail pops the balloon. More about the project can be found on our Google Slides presentation farther down on this page.
Concepts
Force- Force is identified as either a push or pull. It is calculated by multiplying the mass and acceleration. The 3rd marble hits the wedge with a force of 0.35 Newtons.
Acceleration- Acceleration is the rate of change of an objects motion. It is calculated by dividing the change of velocity by the change of time. The marble accelerates down the yellow inclined plane at 7.3 m/s^2.
Mechanical Advantage- Mechanical advantage (MA) is the advantage in force given by machines. The MA of the pulley is one.
Velocity/Speed- Velocity is speed with a direction while speed is without a direction. They are both calculated by dividing distance over time. The marble has a velocity and a speed as its going down an inclined plane.
Momentum- Momentum is the amount of energy a moving object has. It is calculated my multiplying the mass and velocity.
Kinetic Energy- Kinetic energy is how much energy and object has due to motion. It is calculated by taking half of the product of mass and velocity squared.
Potential Energy- Potential energy is how much energy something has in a certain position. It is calculated my multiplying mass, acceleration, and height.
Reflection
The Rube Goldberg Project was a great way to kick off STEM this year. I was really fun (but sometimes very frustrating) building the machine. Our machine wasn't very consistent, but our group worked great together. During the project I learned that you should always have backup plan in case something does't work out. One example is that we didn't have enough room on the top of our main piece of plywood to continue working, so we had to switch the side that we started the machine on. One thing that I learned about myself is that I am pretty good at fixing some problems on the fly. An example is that I found out a way to rest the 2nd marble right in front of the opening to the screw, so when the 1st marble hits it, the 2nd marble rolls down the screw. One thing that we really had a problem with was time management. On presentation day we were still working on our Google Slides when most of the other groups were ready to present. A 2nd thing that we could have done better was plan out what were going to do a little bit better because on the 1st build day we didn't really know how to start.
The Rube Goldberg Project was a great way to kick off STEM this year. I was really fun (but sometimes very frustrating) building the machine. Our machine wasn't very consistent, but our group worked great together. During the project I learned that you should always have backup plan in case something does't work out. One example is that we didn't have enough room on the top of our main piece of plywood to continue working, so we had to switch the side that we started the machine on. One thing that I learned about myself is that I am pretty good at fixing some problems on the fly. An example is that I found out a way to rest the 2nd marble right in front of the opening to the screw, so when the 1st marble hits it, the 2nd marble rolls down the screw. One thing that we really had a problem with was time management. On presentation day we were still working on our Google Slides when most of the other groups were ready to present. A 2nd thing that we could have done better was plan out what were going to do a little bit better because on the 1st build day we didn't really know how to start.