Rube Goldberg machine: For our first STEM project of the year, we were assigned to create our very own Rube Goldberg machines. A Rube Goldberg machine is taking many very complex steps to complete a simple task. If you would like to see an example of a Rube Goldberg check out the video below. The Rube Goldberg my group and I built is a smaller and shorter comparison to the one below.
Rube Goldberg Machine Project
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qybUFnY7Y8w
About our project: Our Rube Goldberg machine was designed to complete the simple task of making a bowl of cereal. My group consisted of Tony Molloy, Austin Marshall, Toran M. And myself. We came up with this simple task by brainstorming various ideas of possible tasks we might want to have as our end result of our machine. We took these ideas and jotted them down on paper. As a group we voted on which idea we thought would be best for our Rube Goldberg Machine. As you can see we voted on making a bowl of cereal. We started constructing our project by taking notes on each group member's ideas for certain steps of our project. We were given a list of how many steps were needed and what simple machines needed to be used. We had to have a minimum of ten steps and had to include five simple machines. There also had to be a minimum of four energy transfers. After we agreed on what each step should contain, we sketched a rough draft/blue print of what our project would look like. After we successfully completed our rough draft, we made a list of what materials we would need and who would bring them in. Once we collected all of our materials we began to construct.
We met and exceeded all of our requirements. Our Rube Goldberg Machine contained 16 steps and five simple machines. We used multiple inclined planes, a pulley, a few wedges, a couple levers, and a stationary screw. We had over four energy transfers including marbles transferring energy to other marbles, dominoes transferring energy to other dominoes, and a lever exerting energy on a marble. These can be seen in the video and bottom right picture below. We used many key concepts including force, momentum, velocity, mass, mechanical advantage, work, kinetic and potential energy, acceleration/deceleration, and distance. Momentum and impulse can be used to find the mass of an object, velocity, and time. Acceleration is when an object increases in speed. Deceleration is when an object decreases in speed. We calculated the force of the marble by multiplying its mass times acceleration. We calculated the mechanical advantage of the pulley in the 5th step of our machine by dividing the input force which was 1, by the output force which was also 1, giving us a mechanical advantage of 1. Work was used to calculate how much energy was being used or exerted. Work is calculated by multiplying force by distance. An example of work in our project was when a marble transferred its energy to a domino, knocking over other dominoes.
In the process of completing my project, I learned a couple of key skills that I will benefit from for the rest of my life. First, I learned how to collaborate with my peers at a high level and to combine our different ideas to improve our project. Second, I learned how to give a presentation with more confidence in front of adults/professionals as well as my peers. One strength of building our project was that we worked as a team and listened to each other's ideas. Another strength was that we all pitched in equally and were all enthusiastic. One of our pitfalls was that our project didn't work 100% of the time. What I learned from this is not to become flustered when this happens and to continue with the next step. What we could do next time is to have a back up plan such as having a video of our machine working that the audience could watch.
We met and exceeded all of our requirements. Our Rube Goldberg Machine contained 16 steps and five simple machines. We used multiple inclined planes, a pulley, a few wedges, a couple levers, and a stationary screw. We had over four energy transfers including marbles transferring energy to other marbles, dominoes transferring energy to other dominoes, and a lever exerting energy on a marble. These can be seen in the video and bottom right picture below. We used many key concepts including force, momentum, velocity, mass, mechanical advantage, work, kinetic and potential energy, acceleration/deceleration, and distance. Momentum and impulse can be used to find the mass of an object, velocity, and time. Acceleration is when an object increases in speed. Deceleration is when an object decreases in speed. We calculated the force of the marble by multiplying its mass times acceleration. We calculated the mechanical advantage of the pulley in the 5th step of our machine by dividing the input force which was 1, by the output force which was also 1, giving us a mechanical advantage of 1. Work was used to calculate how much energy was being used or exerted. Work is calculated by multiplying force by distance. An example of work in our project was when a marble transferred its energy to a domino, knocking over other dominoes.
In the process of completing my project, I learned a couple of key skills that I will benefit from for the rest of my life. First, I learned how to collaborate with my peers at a high level and to combine our different ideas to improve our project. Second, I learned how to give a presentation with more confidence in front of adults/professionals as well as my peers. One strength of building our project was that we worked as a team and listened to each other's ideas. Another strength was that we all pitched in equally and were all enthusiastic. One of our pitfalls was that our project didn't work 100% of the time. What I learned from this is not to become flustered when this happens and to continue with the next step. What we could do next time is to have a back up plan such as having a video of our machine working that the audience could watch.