Rube Goldberg Machine
Final Project Run Through
Description
A Rube Goldberg machine is a machine that has a series of complicated steps for a simple result.
Our Rube Goldberg went through a series of 10 steps to take a picture. It started with a marble being dropped down a pipe. The marble hits a car and sends it rolling down a ramp into a tennis ball. The tennis ball falls into a cup activating a lever which drops two more marbles into another pipe. These marbles hit a toy car with a stylus which rolls downs a ramp into the iPad taking the picture.
Building this project took about 30 hours and there was no time to mess around. During this project we covered many new things such as energy transfers. We learned about potential and kinetic energy and had 5 energy transfers thought the machine. Velocity, acceleration, force, work, and mechanical advantage were also demonstrated in different spots on the Rube Goldberg. This Rube Goldberg was built by Joey Stickle, Diamond Tesfay, and I(Josh Jossart).
Concepts
Mechanical Advantage
Mechanical advantage is how much easier a tool makes something. It is found by the length divided by the height. We found the mechanical advantage the marble had on the first step. The clear pipe or screw that it rolls down. We found it by dividing the length(0.9m) by the height (0.11m). Our mechanical advantage was 8.2. We also found the mechanical advantage of the pulley on the third step, which was the wedge attached to the pulley. We divided the length(0.008m) by the height(0.009m). The mechanical advantage for this step came out too 0.9.
Force
Force is a push or pull on an object that causes a change in motion. Force is found by multiplying mass and acceleration. We found the force of marble on the second step which was the inclined plane right after the screw. We multiplied the mass(0.005kg) by the acceleration of gravity(9.8m/s^2) and got a force of 0.05 Newtons. We also found the force of a pulley system in step 6. We multiplied the mass(0.039kg) by the acceleration of gravity(9.8m/s^2). This came out to 0.35 newtons.
Kinetic Energy
Kinetic energy is energy due to motion. It is found by multiplying half of the mass times velocity squared. Or 1/2(mass)(velocity)^2. We found the kinetic energy of the car in the fourth step which was the car rolling down the ramp. We found this by multiplying 1/2 by the mass(0.034kg) and the velocity(0.421s) squared. This came out too 0.006 joules.
Potential Energy
Potential energy is energy of an object due to its position, at a height, or in a gravity field. It is found by multiplying mass, acceleration, and height together. We found the potential energy of the ball falling into the cup on step 5. We multiplied the mass(0.03kg) by the acceleration due to gravity(9.8m/s^2) by the height(0.2m). Our potential energy came out too 0.08 joules.
Work
Work is the amount of energy put into something. It is found by multiplying force and distance. We found the work of the lever dropping on step 7. We multiplied the force(0.39N) by the distance(0.004m). This came out too 0.02 joules.
Velocity
Velocity is the rate of distance covered in a direction. It is speed with direction. The formula for velocity is the change in distance divided by the change in time. We found the velocity of the marble rolling down the second screw. To find this we divided the change in distance(1.2m) by the change in time(3.28s). The velocity came out too 3.936 meters per second.
Other concepts
Many other concepts also played a huge role in this project such as time. For how long each step took. And change. Change occurred often during energy transfers from potential to kinetic energy.
Mechanical advantage is how much easier a tool makes something. It is found by the length divided by the height. We found the mechanical advantage the marble had on the first step. The clear pipe or screw that it rolls down. We found it by dividing the length(0.9m) by the height (0.11m). Our mechanical advantage was 8.2. We also found the mechanical advantage of the pulley on the third step, which was the wedge attached to the pulley. We divided the length(0.008m) by the height(0.009m). The mechanical advantage for this step came out too 0.9.
Force
Force is a push or pull on an object that causes a change in motion. Force is found by multiplying mass and acceleration. We found the force of marble on the second step which was the inclined plane right after the screw. We multiplied the mass(0.005kg) by the acceleration of gravity(9.8m/s^2) and got a force of 0.05 Newtons. We also found the force of a pulley system in step 6. We multiplied the mass(0.039kg) by the acceleration of gravity(9.8m/s^2). This came out to 0.35 newtons.
Kinetic Energy
Kinetic energy is energy due to motion. It is found by multiplying half of the mass times velocity squared. Or 1/2(mass)(velocity)^2. We found the kinetic energy of the car in the fourth step which was the car rolling down the ramp. We found this by multiplying 1/2 by the mass(0.034kg) and the velocity(0.421s) squared. This came out too 0.006 joules.
Potential Energy
Potential energy is energy of an object due to its position, at a height, or in a gravity field. It is found by multiplying mass, acceleration, and height together. We found the potential energy of the ball falling into the cup on step 5. We multiplied the mass(0.03kg) by the acceleration due to gravity(9.8m/s^2) by the height(0.2m). Our potential energy came out too 0.08 joules.
Work
Work is the amount of energy put into something. It is found by multiplying force and distance. We found the work of the lever dropping on step 7. We multiplied the force(0.39N) by the distance(0.004m). This came out too 0.02 joules.
Velocity
Velocity is the rate of distance covered in a direction. It is speed with direction. The formula for velocity is the change in distance divided by the change in time. We found the velocity of the marble rolling down the second screw. To find this we divided the change in distance(1.2m) by the change in time(3.28s). The velocity came out too 3.936 meters per second.
Other concepts
Many other concepts also played a huge role in this project such as time. For how long each step took. And change. Change occurred often during energy transfers from potential to kinetic energy.
Link to presentation
Reflection
Our Rube Goldberg turned out to work great. At first we had many different ideas for the machine. Which u can see in the schematic below. Very few of our ideas actually showed up in the end product though. They were to hard to make and we had a certain amount of time to finish. Also we ran out of room on the board for those steps. During this project my group did a few things well. First of all, we communicated great. When someone had an idea, or was talking, the others would listen. This worked great and helped manage time. Another thing we did well was work together. We all put all of our effort into this often working on it at lunch and after school to finish and make sure it worked. There were also some things we struggled on though. We weren't always on task. Sometimes a group member would wander off and look at others projects which made our project take longer to build. This was especially hard for our group because we only had three members while most had four. Our final problem was our listening when someone had an idea. If someone had a bad idea, the other members wouldn't always try to change the idea or give advice. Instead the other members would just move on or say their own idea. Overall our group worked great and the machine turned out better than we expected.
Schematics
Original schematic
Final schematic