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In August, our group received the task to make a Rube Goldberg Machine. We decided on a theme of under the sea. Before starting construction on this project we learned about many topics to help us such as the elements of design and how to do proper scaling. Our project took around 4 weeks to complete, which included planning, building, and presenting.
IMG_8618.MOVWhat is a Rube Goldberg Machinne?
What is a Rube Goldberg Machinne?
Defnition:
"A Rube Goldberg machine is a complex contraption designed to complete a simple task. The machine uses a set of tasks that work in succession and trigger one event after another until the final event"
Explaining the 10 Steps:
1. Ball goes through spiral and hits anchor
2. Anchor hits weight
3. Weight rolls down the ramp
4. Ramp pushes lever down
5. Mermaid gets pushed up
6. Ball rolls down lever & ramp
7. Ball hits coral
8. The rope loosen
9. Scuba diver falls
10. Treasure chest opens
5 simple machines-
1. Inclined plane
2. Pulley
3. Wedge
4. Screw
5. Lever
4 energy transfers-
1. When the anchor hit the rock
2. Mermaid hits the lever
3. Guppies accelerate toward the coral
4. Scuba diver falls and the pulley operates
Our group decided to go with an under the sea theme. This was shown throughout all of our steps and in the background.
Every group had to have some sort of "finale", ours was opening a treasure chest. This not only allowed us to have a fitting finale to our theme but also made it so our entire projects layout was different from others. Rather then creating a predictable setup of the ball starting from above and going down. We thought it would be a cool idea to play around with it more. So instead, our project starts low, goes up and then back down.
When not spending time building in the work shop, we were practicing physics problems and learning how to convert them into the project to make sure they work as successfully as possible. Some of these include:
Velocity- The rate of distance covered in a direction: In our case, the velocity of the weight rolling down the ramp was 0.38 m/s
Acceleration- The rate of change in velocity: We never calculated acceleration in terms of our project
Force- The push or pull on an object: The force required to move the ball from its resting point was 1 newton
Work- The energy put into something
Potential/Kinetic Energy- The energy an object has due to gravity, before motion and the energy created by the motion: The potential energy between the ball hitting the anchor was 0.14J
Mechanical Advantage- How much easier a tool makes a task: The MA of the pulley system was 1
Reflection:
This project has helped me learn some of both my strengths and weaknesses when it comes to working in groups and doing big projects like this one. As our project progressed, I started to realize how much of a strong headed team member I may be. Some may find this a good trait and some may think otherwise. Being a very dominant member made it so our group would stay on task and get the project done. Although, this also made my group members feel less heard and feel somewhat bossed around. Clearly, this was never my intention, but I do need to learn how to balance being a leader/being heard with making sure my teammates and their ideas are also being heard.
Aside from this, I think my cooperation was one of my main strengths that I brought to the group. I was always giving ideas, asking for help when needed, and doing whatever it took to fix any problems or difficulties our group may have had. I tried my best to do my part everyday but also made sure I didn't carry and let others do their part as well.
As this was our first project, I will make sure to be more mindful and use this knowledge to become a better group member and classmate in the future.
Construction Log
Construction Log
Day 1- Today we started by cutting our board to the correct measurements and measuring and planning out where everything should go.
Day 2- All we did today was put on some of the ramps and cut out our boat to add on later.
Day 3- Today was all about figuring out how we were going to build the and put together the lever.
Day 4- Our original lever plan didn’t seem to work very well so we had to revise it and try and make it work better. Along with this, we also cut out our anchor and will attach it tomorrow.
Day 5- We finally brought paint so we were able to start painting our board.
Day 7- Yesterday we attached the second ramp, anchor, and treasure chest/pulley. Today was all about making the mermaid and figuring out the best way to make it work and what weight to use.
Day 8- We realized we didn’t have enough simple machines so we went ahead and added on a screw to start off the machine instead of the anchor being the thing to start it off.
Day 9- We started going through our project and working on all the little logistics to make it work
Day 10- Everyone had their own thing to work on, one person worked on slides, one on script, one on equations, and the other filming and helping out with everything. Starting to bring the whole project together.
Other group members: Ty Meyers, Vincent Nettz, and Ryan Marvier
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