Rube Goldberg Machine

What is a Rube Goldberg Machine?

A Rube Goldberg machine is a machine that does a simple task in the most complicated way possible. Our task for this project was to complete a machine that accomplished a goal in a complicated way using 15 steps or more with each of us having our machine do 5 steps since we completed the project virtually. To make it work we had each section end with the same thing that the next one starts with. Our machine's goal is to make a piece of toast. Below I have included a slideshow about the machine and a video of the machine working.

Rube Goldberg Persentation Group 31
Rube Goldberg Video

Key Terms

  • Velocity: Rate of covered distance in a direction. Velocity is found by dividing the change in distance by the change in time. I found the velocity of a ball in my machine which was 2.14 m/s.

  • Acceleration: The rate of change of velocity. To get acceleration you divide the change in velocity by the change in time. The acceleration of a ball in my machine was 2.45 m/s².

  • Force: Push or pull on an object that can cause a change in motion. To get force you multiply mass times the acceleration. The ball pushes down on a lever with 0.68 newtons of force.

  • Work: Amount of energy put into doing something. This is found when you multiply force by the change in the distance. One of the dominoes in my machine did 1.45 Joules of work.

  • Potential Energy: Energy an object has due to its position at a height or in a gravitational field. This is found when you multiply the height by the acceleration due to gravity by the mass of the object. The ball at the start of my machine has a PE of 0.392 Joules.

  • Kinetic Energy: Kinetic energy is the energy due to motion. This is found by multiplying the mass times the velocity squared and you divide it all by 2. The ball at the end of my machine has a KE of 0.16 Joules. Ideally all PE will convert to KE but almost half of it was lost to friction.

  • Mechanical Advantage: How many times easier it is to do a task. There are 2 types of mechanical advantage, ideal and real. Ideal mechanical advantage is the MA without friction involved. That is found by dividing distance effort by the distance of the load. Real MA is found by dividing the force of the load by the effort of the load. A lever in my machine only had a mechanical advantage of one since the fulcrum was centered giving no advantage to one side.

Elements from my project

Simple Machines in my project

  • Inclined plane: In my part of my machine I used an inclined plane in steps 7, 8, and 9 to transport a ball downward. They are used to make pushing something up or sliding something down easier

  • Lever: In my machine I used a lever to push a ball down to an inclined plane below. I used one in steps 8 and 9 of the machine. Levers can be used to move a heavy object with less force.

  • Screw: Meant to make things easier when going in a circle. I didn't have one in my portion of my machine but the third section did and it rolled a ball down a spiral into a sort of lever.

  • Wedge: Wedges are used to split something in two or stop something by acting like a wall or a door stopper. There is a wedge in step 13 of our machine.

  • Wheel and Axle: A wheel and axle is used to slide something along a surface by using minimal force to spin the axle and more distance traveled with the larger wheel.

  • Pulley: A pulley is used to move one load up and the other down. You can balance it or unbalance it by adding more or less to the load. We didn't use a pulley in our Rube Goldberg machine.

Construction Log

  • Week 1: This was the first week where we began brainstorming ideas. We ended up settling on an idea in about 5 minutes and planned for the rest of the week. We started using a google jam board (below) and then went on to paper. Our final and initial blueprints ended up in our presentation.

  • Week 2: We got our supplies later in the week and started building later. By the end of the week we had at least our supplies ready to go and a finished blueprint.

  • Week 3 and 4: Building. We each had a half done product by the end of the week. We completely finished by the end of week 4. All of us were working together well and had a clear idea of how it was going to come together. We started our presentation at the end of week 4.

  • Week 5: We finished our presentations since our machines were done. That was all we had left to do until the presentation.

Reflection

This project was great in my opinion. It would have been better to be in person but for being at home I think that everyone did well. Seeing the 2 other projects when we presented looked like everyone's projects went very well. I think one of the main reasons that things went as well as they did was due to the fact that my group mates and I knew each other and it would have been more difficult to do this first STEM project if no one in my group knew each other. The reason knowing each other was so great was because we got along, didn't feel awkward in the breakout rooms of the zoom call, we agreed with each other, helped make everything together (as much as we could since we were home), and we were supportive of one another. We ended up with an idea for the project within 10 minutes of brainstorming on the first day of the project. All in all I think that this project was great and gave me a good feel for how projects are going to be for stem because so far they are great and I am looking forward to what we do next.