Rube Goldberg
The final product of our Rube Goldberg machine was a success. After building for a total of twenty-five hours, we produced a final product of a 12-step machine ending in a result of cutting various different types of fruit with a mini guillotine. Our group worked very hard on our machine and calculations to present to a public audience many times.
Requirements for our final product were having 10 steps, at least 4 energy transfers, and 5 simple machines. Also, the rube goldberg actually had to be efficient. Our group did very well in doing all of these which made our machine very successful during presentation night.
Our big plan was to cut a pear with a mini guillotine. We created a schematic, but had to revise it many times due to its complexity. Our group struggled a bit with figuring out all of our requirements out with the plan we had in mind. However, we then designed a machine our whole group liked, and we were off to start building.
Building our machine proved to be challenging. Using power tools and actual wood scraps to build with was different from any other project I had ever done at school. Fortunately, I had some experience with tools and wood from playing around with scraps at home. Our other challenge was building our machine of of our end result. Because our guillotine was brought in the first build day, we had to base our whole project off of the end result. In total, we had 11 building days which was a perfect amount. Throughout the days, our rube goldberg had to be tweaked many different times. Sometimes, our steps would not function right, and therefore, a problem was created.
Step 1: The ball is blown by a straw to start the machine
Step 2: The ball rolls down the inclined plane
Step 3: The ball falls into a pulley system which falls down hitting another ball
Step 4: The new ball rolls down the inclined plane
Step 5: The ball rolls down a funnel
Step 6: The ball falls into a cup, activating our 2 purpose lever
Step 7: The lever is pushed down releasing a lacrosse ball to activate the guillotine
Step 8: Another ball from the lever is released, going down an inclined plane
Step 9: The ball then goes down a series of 2 inclined planes
Step 10: The ball is released down a pipe, activating the first end result
Step 11: The lacrosse ball releases the guillotine
Step 12: The fruit is chopped
Our machine required lots of different forces. These are examples of them and what they mean:
Force: Force can be described as a push or pull. It is calculated with the formula F =ma.
Acceleration: Acceleration is the rate of change in an object's motion. It is calculated with the formula ΔV/ΔT.
Speed/Velocity: Speed is the amount of distance an object covers in a given amount of time, and velocity is speed with a direction. It is calculated with the formula Distance/Time
Mechanical Advantage: Mechanical advantage is how much easier the machine makes work. This is calculated by dividing the input distance over the output distance.
Kinetic Energy: Kinetic energy is how much energy an object has due to motion. It is calculated by multiplying 1/2mv^2. Kinetic energy changes to potential energy as something falls.
Impulse: Impulse is the amount of force applied for a given amount of time. It is calculated by multiplying force and time. When an object hits another object there is an impulse.
Momentum: Momentum is how much energy a moving object carries with it. It is calculated by multiplying mass and velocity. When the marble rolls down the inclined plane it has momentum.
Work: Work is the amount of force applied to move an object a certain distance. It is calculated with the formula W = FxD.
Here is a video of our machine in action:
The final product of our Rube Goldberg machine was a success. After building for a total of twenty-five hours, we produced a final product of a 12-step machine ending in a result of cutting various different types of fruit with a mini guillotine. Our group worked very hard on our machine and calculations to present to a public audience many times.
Requirements for our final product were having 10 steps, at least 4 energy transfers, and 5 simple machines. Also, the rube goldberg actually had to be efficient. Our group did very well in doing all of these which made our machine very successful during presentation night.
Our big plan was to cut a pear with a mini guillotine. We created a schematic, but had to revise it many times due to its complexity. Our group struggled a bit with figuring out all of our requirements out with the plan we had in mind. However, we then designed a machine our whole group liked, and we were off to start building.
Building our machine proved to be challenging. Using power tools and actual wood scraps to build with was different from any other project I had ever done at school. Fortunately, I had some experience with tools and wood from playing around with scraps at home. Our other challenge was building our machine of of our end result. Because our guillotine was brought in the first build day, we had to base our whole project off of the end result. In total, we had 11 building days which was a perfect amount. Throughout the days, our rube goldberg had to be tweaked many different times. Sometimes, our steps would not function right, and therefore, a problem was created.
Step 1: The ball is blown by a straw to start the machine
Step 2: The ball rolls down the inclined plane
Step 3: The ball falls into a pulley system which falls down hitting another ball
Step 4: The new ball rolls down the inclined plane
Step 5: The ball rolls down a funnel
Step 6: The ball falls into a cup, activating our 2 purpose lever
Step 7: The lever is pushed down releasing a lacrosse ball to activate the guillotine
Step 8: Another ball from the lever is released, going down an inclined plane
Step 9: The ball then goes down a series of 2 inclined planes
Step 10: The ball is released down a pipe, activating the first end result
Step 11: The lacrosse ball releases the guillotine
Step 12: The fruit is chopped
Our machine required lots of different forces. These are examples of them and what they mean:
Force: Force can be described as a push or pull. It is calculated with the formula F =ma.
Acceleration: Acceleration is the rate of change in an object's motion. It is calculated with the formula ΔV/ΔT.
Speed/Velocity: Speed is the amount of distance an object covers in a given amount of time, and velocity is speed with a direction. It is calculated with the formula Distance/Time
Mechanical Advantage: Mechanical advantage is how much easier the machine makes work. This is calculated by dividing the input distance over the output distance.
Kinetic Energy: Kinetic energy is how much energy an object has due to motion. It is calculated by multiplying 1/2mv^2. Kinetic energy changes to potential energy as something falls.
Impulse: Impulse is the amount of force applied for a given amount of time. It is calculated by multiplying force and time. When an object hits another object there is an impulse.
Momentum: Momentum is how much energy a moving object carries with it. It is calculated by multiplying mass and velocity. When the marble rolls down the inclined plane it has momentum.
Work: Work is the amount of force applied to move an object a certain distance. It is calculated with the formula W = FxD.
Here is a video of our machine in action:
I learned many things about myself and about physics during the making of this projects. I also learned about problem solving skills. My group did not run into any people problems, but rather project problems. To solve these problems, I would figure out exactly what was wrong. After, I would adjust things to see if that made things any different. For example, our pulley system required a lot of attention. If adjusting things did not do the job, I would remake the step better until it was just right. This project was a great learning experience for me and I look forward to doing more projects throughout the year