Rube Goldberg Machine

What is a Rube Goldberg machine?

According to Wikipedia, "A Rube Goldberg machine, named after American cartoonist Rube Goldberg, is a chain reaction-type machine or contraption intentionally designed to perform a simple task in an indirect and overly complicated way."

Wikipedia's explanation is pretty accurate of what a Rube Goldberg machine is. A Rube Goldberg machine is a machine made up of many simple features that work in quick succession, a chain reaction. These machines usually end in a very simple task being completed, making that simple task overly complicated. They are named after the cartoonist Rube Goldberg who is known for making wacky impractical machines in one panel comics, like this famous one on the right.

Picture of Rube Goldberg

Table of Contents

Rube Goldberg Final Presentation

Akash Sutton-Rube Goldberg Presentation Copy

Requirements for our final Rube Goldberg machine:

  • at least 10 steps

  • at least 5 simple machines

  • 4 energy transfers

  • 3 elements of design

  • A Blueprint of our work

  • Calculations for every step

Final blueprint

Video of working product with explanation

IMG_6492.MOV

To the left is a video of our Rube Goldberg machine. Following the standards of the project it incorporates five simple machines a screw, pulley, lever, inclined plane (commonly known as a ramp) and a wheel and axle. It also incorporates three elements of design: balance, movement and rhythm. Our biggest problem came in the form of our tenth and final step, our wheel and axle. This is because our wheel is made out of cardboard and had a rough surface which kept catching the string. This would cause the machine to break. We fixed this issue by repositioning the string and getting a smoother circle to limit the chances of the string catching on the wheel. We began our project on September 3rd and finished it on September 24th before presenting it on October 5th.

Model of our wheel and axle.

Our 5 Simple Machines, 4 Energy Transfers and 3 Elements of Design

5 Simple Machines:

4 Energy Transfers

3 Elements of Design

  1. Screw

2. Pulley

3. Lever

4. Inclined Plane (Ramp)

Wheel & Axle

  1. PE to KE

In our first step, before the marble does anything, it has potential energy. When it is dropped down the screw, that energy is converted into kinetic energy.

  1. Small marble to block

There is an energy transfer from the ball rolling down the screw to the block that gets pushed over into the pulley.

  1. Medium marble to Large ball

When the marble rolls down the ramp and hits the ball all it kinetic energy is transferred. Then the ball’s potential energy is converted into kinetic as it rolls down the ramp.

  1. Large ball to weight

As the ball rolls down the inclined plane its energy is converted into kinetic. It hits the weight, turning its potential energy into kinetic as it falls.

  1. Balance

Our action is equally split up between the right and left sides.

  1. Movement

The illusion of something moving is shown through our painted rippling water on the bottom left corner.

  1. Rhythm

Rhythm is displayed through the race tracks placed throughout the machine showing that each part of the machine is connected.

Physics concepts

Over the six weeks we worked on our project we learned many physics concepts to help us build and calculate our ten steps. We learned time, distance, velocity, acceleration, acceleration due to gravity on earth, mass, force, work, potential and kinetic energy, mechanical advantage (both ideal and real) and how each of them interact with each other to give us a basic idea of how physics concepts work and move objects.

Time (seconds)

Time is how long an action takes place, most commonly calculated in seconds. Time can be measured by using a phones camera in slow motion, by timing it using a stopwatch or a combination of both.

IMG_6165.MOV

The clip to the left is from our "Ball Drop Lab" where we calculated the time it took for a ball to hit the ground from certain height. The video is in slow- motion and includes a stopwatch so we can get an accurate time that the ball is midair.

Distance (meters)

Distance can be specified to a length, height, width or simply just a distance along something. Distances are measured with things like rulers, tape measures and other instruments used to measure a distance.

Mass (kilograms)

Mass is how much matter an object has and is NOT it's weight. Mass can be measured by using something like a scale which can tell you the mass in grams, or kilograms.

Velocity (meters per second)

Velocity defines how fast something is moving along a certain direction. A velocity can be negative if the object is moving backward, which is different from speed (Speed is the absolute value of velocity.) You can calculate a velocity by dividing the change of distance over the change in time.

Acceleration/Acceleration due to gravity (meters per second squared)

Acceleration is the change of velocity over a certain time period. It can be calculated by taking the change in velocity and dividing it by the change in time, but can also be found in other ways. the acceleration due to gravity changes depending on how intense the gravity is on the planet you are on. On earth this is always 9.8 meters per second squared, and if you divide it by the mechanical advantage of a ramp or screw you get acceleration on an object on that ramp or screw.

Force/Weight (Newtons)

Force measures the force of two or more objects interacting and exchanging energy. Force equals mass times acceleration and quantifies how much force one thing puts into another thing. Weight is actually a force, not a mass, which explains why you weight less depending on the intensity of the gravity you are in. Weight can be symbolized as force due to gravity which is mass times acceleration due to gravity. Force can also come in the form of Normal, Gravitational (weight), Tension, Friction, Air resistance and Drag forces.

Work (Joules)

Work is the Force used to move something compared to how much it actually moved. If one object puts lots of force on another object but that object does not move, there is no work done to move the object. Work if calculated using Force times distance.

Potential/Kinetic Energy (Joules)

Potential energy is the energy something has at rest and kinetic energy is the energy something is using by moving. Work is equal to the change in potential and change in kinetic energy.

Mechanical Advantage Real & Ideal (times easier)

Mechanical Advantage is how much less you need to exert to move something heavier than the energy you are putting into it. Ideal mechanical advantage is calculated using the effort distance over the load distance and does not take in to consideration other forces like friction, while real mechanical advantage is the force of the effort over the force of the load and takes outside forces into consideration. Mechanical advantage is how much easier a task is through a simple machine.

Lever model (MAreal)

Wheel and axle model (MAideal)

Reflection

I practiced a lot of communicative & public speaking skills while making and presenting my Rube Goldberg Machine. During the entire process I was learning, creating and performing with 3 other students and using team skills to make sure we completed our project in time for the presentation date. During our creation process we kept track of our different skills and how we were doing in each of those skills. According to my classmates I improved in empathy and cooperation. I did this by allowing teammates to take on some of the roles I was commonly filling and being more considerate of other peoples ideas.

Although I have improved I still lag behind in empathy. I need to work towards being more collaborative with my team members and receptive to their ideas. That would help make team's experience more pleasant and give us an productive work environment. I acknowledge that I still have room for improvement and will make an effort to build on my skills as much as possible in future projects.

Calculations