The past few weeks we have been working on building our own original Rube Goldberg machines. The group I was assigned to was Brigid O’Brien Rebecca Obliites, Andrew Rice, and myself. We worked very well together. We realized each other’s strengths and weaknesses and worked around them very well always keeping busy. First, the question might come up what is a Rube Goldberg machine? A Rube Goldberg machine is a machine that does a series of complex task to accomplish a simple one. Our simple task is to water a plant, using complex but fun steps to get the job done. We started with a rough schematic. We tracked our projects growth daily taking photos of the tasks we accomplished every day. At the end of our construction period, we made a final schematic as well. Our machine also incorporated the use of five simple machines; a screw, lever, wedge, pulley, and incline plane.
Take a look at our slideshow we created for the project:
https://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/283480192?access_key=key-PUGiNbQYKx2ObwoMhQeu&allow_share=false&escape=false&show_recommendations=false&view_mode=scroll
Concept we used:
Take a look at our slideshow we created for the project:
https://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/283480192?access_key=key-PUGiNbQYKx2ObwoMhQeu&allow_share=false&escape=false&show_recommendations=false&view_mode=scroll
Concept we used:
- Force- (equation) Force= Mass x Acceleration. It is calculated in Newtons (N)
- Velocity- (equation) Velocity = the change in distance over the change in time. It is calculated in meters per second
- Acceleration- (equation) Acceleration = the change in velocity over the change in time. Calculated in meter per second
- Work- (equation) Work = Force x Distance. It is calculated in Joules (J)
- Kinetic Energy- (equation) KE = 1/2 x Mass x Velocity squared
- Potential Energy - (equation) PE= Mass x the acceleration of gravity x Height. It is measured in Joules (J)
- Mechanical Advantage - (equation) MA= effort divided by load. No unit of measurment.
12 Steps we used in our Project:
Step 1: A 50 gram weight attached to a pulley went down a wire zip line with the acceleration of .44m/s^2 and knocked three balls off of a platform, causing them to fall onto a ramp, but hit a cardboard stopper.
Step 2: When the three balls hit the cardboard stopper, there was a kinetic energy transfer of .006J from the three balls one one side of the stopper hitting a steel ball on the other side of a stopper to roll down a ramp.
Step 3: After the steel ball received the kinetic energy, it began to roll down our first ramp with an acceleration of 1.1m/s^2, and a velocity of .82m/s^2. As the ball continued to roll down the ramp, it dropped into a black funnel with an acceleration (due to gravity) of 9.8m/s^2.
Step 4: After the ball fell through the funnel, it dropped onto our first lever with a force of .277N
Step 5: When the ball hit the first lever, it caused it to tilt in one direction, causing the steel ball to roll down in the other direction with an acceleration of 1.5m/s^2 and a velocity of .87m/s^2
Step 6: When the steel ball finished rolling down the lever from step 5, it dropped onto a metal ramp, (ramp #3,) and rolled down that with an acceleration of .37m/s^2 and a velocity of .59 m/s^2
Step7: When lever #1 (from step 5) was caused to tilt in a certain direction due to the steel ball dropping onto it, it hit lever#2 with a force of 2.77N, causing lever #2 to tilt as well.
Step 8: When lever #2 tilted, a mass of .o5kg rolled off in the other direction, triggering a pulley with a mechanical advantage of 1 to activate.
Step 9: The pulley dropped a .05kg mass and pulled up a .003kg wedge.
Step 10: As the wedge was lifted by the pulley, two small metal balls were released down ramp #4 (the metal ramp located on the same side of the board as the pulley.) These two balls rolled down with an acceleration of 1.90m/s^2 and a velocity of 1.28m/s^2
Step 11: When the two metal balls reached the end of the ramp, they hit a cup of water with .13J of kinetic energy.
Step 12: At the same time,when the steel ball reached the end of ramp #3, from step 6, it too hit a cup of water with of kinetic energy and the two cups of water drop into a funnel, go through a screw, drop down into a water wheel, and water a plant below.
Reflection:
This project was our first big high school project, and I would say it was a great success. Our group went through our ups and downs, having all different views on everything but we made it work very smoothly. We designed and built a very unique but great looking project! We all learned more about each other and how to work with others which is a very useful skill. On our next project I am going to try and step up to be more of a leader and help participate with throwing out new ideas to concepts. But, overall I would say this was a great learning experience and fun task that we did well at!