Rube Goldberg Project
In this project, we designed, as the title says, a Rube Goldberg Machine. Rube Goldberg Machines are basically machines that are supposed to perform a very simple task in a very complex manner, doing it "the long way around". It is the lazy man's worst nightmare and dream come true. Hard to set up, but makes things easier once it is finished. Rube Goldberg was an engineer, a cartoonist, and was the namesake of the machines. He was know for drawing cartoons of machines that used a roundabout means to a very simple end, hence them being called Rube Goldberg Machines.
In our project, we had to make a bowl of cereal as our end product, and we did it in 16 complicated steps. It starts out with a marble rolling down a track, and hitting a switch (a lever). It then keeps rolling, and hits a domino into a cup. The cup goes down, pulling the string over the pulley, and raising the pin. The pin goes up, releasing the car, which then rolls down the track and pulls the domino out of the way, unblocking the screw. Now go back to the lever in the first step. The lever hits a marble, which goes down some more track, onto a switchback, and hits a marble, which then rolls down a switchback, and hits a switch, releasing an eight ball. The eight ball rolls down another switchback and hits a smaller marble. The marble free falls down a tube, goes down some more marble track and switchbacks, and goes down the screw. At the bottom of the screw, the marble hits a staircase of dominoes. The dominoes topple, and with the domino effect, they hit a mass (no it doesn't cause communism), which then pulls down on a string, pulling the cups containing the milk and cereal downward, making them dump their contents down a tube and a piece of racetrack, respectively, which guides them into the bowl. Instant cereal. Believe it or not, this whole process that has taken up over a paragraph of space takes only a few seconds.
In order to complete this project, and make all of the previously mentioned step possible, we had to rely on several physics concepts.
Simple machines - A simple machine is a lever, pulley, screw, wedge, inclined plane, or wheel and axle. In our project, we used levers, pulleys, a screw, wedges, and inclined planes. Basically, anything that is a mechanical device that is used to apply force. Simple machines lessen the force needed to do a certain amount of work. They don't necessarily lessen the work done, as they require more distance to be put in, but they do lessen the effort that needs to be exerted, making things much easier.
Mechanical Advantage - Mechanical advantage is the measure of how much less force is needed to perform an action with a simple machine. Ideal mechanical advantage is measured by the input distance/the output distance. Ideal mechanical advantage is the theoretical mechanical advantage, and would only be able to be achieved in space, since there are a number of variables, such as friction, imperfections in the material, etc. The real mechanical advantage is what the mechanical advantage is in the actual world, taking into account all of the aforesaid variables. This is calculated by the output force/the input force.
Force- A force is a push or pull that somehow changes an object or an object's placement. Forces are what make things happen around us every day, you exert a force just by standing still; you body is exerting a force on the floor to counteract the force of gravity. In our project, without force, nothing would move, it would all just sit there. The force being exerted on an object can be calculated by the formula F=ma, where F=Force, m=mass, and a=acceleration. Force is measured in Newtons (N).
Work - Work is when a force acts on an object to displace it. They key word here is displacement, since even if a force exerts many Newtons of force, it doesn't do work without distance. For example, lets a say a force of 1000 N moves a total of 0 cm, and a force of 1 N moves the same object 2 cm. The force of 1 N did more work, since it moved, while the first force didn't move, so it did 0 work. Work can be found by multiplying the force by the distance. So, the force and distance are inversely proportional, meaning when one changes, the other changes in the opposite direction. This is why simple machines don't change the work, they just lower force and up the distance.
On an interesting side note, I didn't just use physics concepts, I also drew on my drama training in the presentation. I always remembered posture, speaking in a loud voice (not yelling, speaking), and not turning my back to the audience. Thank you Mrs. K.
In this project, I learned more about myself as a person, and noticed several things that went well, and didn't work well. I am more often than not the leader, due to my usually being paired with more passive group mates (although there are no passive people in STEM, thankfully), and having a strong overall personality. In this project, though I let go of that role, and deferred more to Austin, who had more experience with Rube Goldberg projects and more ideas and materials invested in this project. That isn't to say I completely let go, I tried to coordinate things, and keeping people on task, like the deputy sheriff (think Barney Fife without the clumsiness, wild imagination, or stupidity). I also learned more how to work with people, and not to judge them on first glance. There were some kids in my group that I initially had some doubts about, but they all surprised me and turned out to be brilliant, coming up with fixes that were ingenious. I have noticed we tend to judge people too quickly in this society, and have been consciously trying to get to know someone before passing judgement on them. I think if there are two things that I could have better on, it would have been to not be so ambitious, and to work on the execution (usually due to having an ambitious project). In all of my past groups, the pattern has been the same. The group sits down, comes up with a great idea, and we end up spending up until the last second trying to make it work. We actually ended up still making tweaks on the night of the exhibition. We were scrambling with the screw, and eventually took out a lever that was not working altogether. The big problem is the idea. I usually find that while it is a great idea, it isn't a reliable idea, such as in this case. Our machine relied a lot on luck, and had a very low success rate, under 50%. The marble at the bottom of the screw, for example, had to hit the first domino with just the right amount of force and at just the right angle. We couldn't tweak this due to the wideness of the screw and the abundance of different angles that resulted. Lesson learned: come up with less ambitious ideas that can reliably be executed.
Overall, I had a great time working on this project and felt like it was a good introduction to engineering, and I can't wait to get started on the Physics of Sports Video!
In our project, we had to make a bowl of cereal as our end product, and we did it in 16 complicated steps. It starts out with a marble rolling down a track, and hitting a switch (a lever). It then keeps rolling, and hits a domino into a cup. The cup goes down, pulling the string over the pulley, and raising the pin. The pin goes up, releasing the car, which then rolls down the track and pulls the domino out of the way, unblocking the screw. Now go back to the lever in the first step. The lever hits a marble, which goes down some more track, onto a switchback, and hits a marble, which then rolls down a switchback, and hits a switch, releasing an eight ball. The eight ball rolls down another switchback and hits a smaller marble. The marble free falls down a tube, goes down some more marble track and switchbacks, and goes down the screw. At the bottom of the screw, the marble hits a staircase of dominoes. The dominoes topple, and with the domino effect, they hit a mass (no it doesn't cause communism), which then pulls down on a string, pulling the cups containing the milk and cereal downward, making them dump their contents down a tube and a piece of racetrack, respectively, which guides them into the bowl. Instant cereal. Believe it or not, this whole process that has taken up over a paragraph of space takes only a few seconds.
In order to complete this project, and make all of the previously mentioned step possible, we had to rely on several physics concepts.
Simple machines - A simple machine is a lever, pulley, screw, wedge, inclined plane, or wheel and axle. In our project, we used levers, pulleys, a screw, wedges, and inclined planes. Basically, anything that is a mechanical device that is used to apply force. Simple machines lessen the force needed to do a certain amount of work. They don't necessarily lessen the work done, as they require more distance to be put in, but they do lessen the effort that needs to be exerted, making things much easier.
Mechanical Advantage - Mechanical advantage is the measure of how much less force is needed to perform an action with a simple machine. Ideal mechanical advantage is measured by the input distance/the output distance. Ideal mechanical advantage is the theoretical mechanical advantage, and would only be able to be achieved in space, since there are a number of variables, such as friction, imperfections in the material, etc. The real mechanical advantage is what the mechanical advantage is in the actual world, taking into account all of the aforesaid variables. This is calculated by the output force/the input force.
Force- A force is a push or pull that somehow changes an object or an object's placement. Forces are what make things happen around us every day, you exert a force just by standing still; you body is exerting a force on the floor to counteract the force of gravity. In our project, without force, nothing would move, it would all just sit there. The force being exerted on an object can be calculated by the formula F=ma, where F=Force, m=mass, and a=acceleration. Force is measured in Newtons (N).
Work - Work is when a force acts on an object to displace it. They key word here is displacement, since even if a force exerts many Newtons of force, it doesn't do work without distance. For example, lets a say a force of 1000 N moves a total of 0 cm, and a force of 1 N moves the same object 2 cm. The force of 1 N did more work, since it moved, while the first force didn't move, so it did 0 work. Work can be found by multiplying the force by the distance. So, the force and distance are inversely proportional, meaning when one changes, the other changes in the opposite direction. This is why simple machines don't change the work, they just lower force and up the distance.
On an interesting side note, I didn't just use physics concepts, I also drew on my drama training in the presentation. I always remembered posture, speaking in a loud voice (not yelling, speaking), and not turning my back to the audience. Thank you Mrs. K.
In this project, I learned more about myself as a person, and noticed several things that went well, and didn't work well. I am more often than not the leader, due to my usually being paired with more passive group mates (although there are no passive people in STEM, thankfully), and having a strong overall personality. In this project, though I let go of that role, and deferred more to Austin, who had more experience with Rube Goldberg projects and more ideas and materials invested in this project. That isn't to say I completely let go, I tried to coordinate things, and keeping people on task, like the deputy sheriff (think Barney Fife without the clumsiness, wild imagination, or stupidity). I also learned more how to work with people, and not to judge them on first glance. There were some kids in my group that I initially had some doubts about, but they all surprised me and turned out to be brilliant, coming up with fixes that were ingenious. I have noticed we tend to judge people too quickly in this society, and have been consciously trying to get to know someone before passing judgement on them. I think if there are two things that I could have better on, it would have been to not be so ambitious, and to work on the execution (usually due to having an ambitious project). In all of my past groups, the pattern has been the same. The group sits down, comes up with a great idea, and we end up spending up until the last second trying to make it work. We actually ended up still making tweaks on the night of the exhibition. We were scrambling with the screw, and eventually took out a lever that was not working altogether. The big problem is the idea. I usually find that while it is a great idea, it isn't a reliable idea, such as in this case. Our machine relied a lot on luck, and had a very low success rate, under 50%. The marble at the bottom of the screw, for example, had to hit the first domino with just the right amount of force and at just the right angle. We couldn't tweak this due to the wideness of the screw and the abundance of different angles that resulted. Lesson learned: come up with less ambitious ideas that can reliably be executed.
Overall, I had a great time working on this project and felt like it was a good introduction to engineering, and I can't wait to get started on the Physics of Sports Video!