Rube Goldberg Machine
Rube Goldberg, a physicist born in the nineteenth century, is widely regarded for his creation of the Rube Goldberg Machine. This machine incorporates many tasks in a complex way to complete one simple task, one that is usually very simple, like delivering a pencil, or, in our case, stapling a paper. These tasks are very easy to complete, but the whole point of a Rube Goldberg machine is to complete the task in a whimsical fashion, not to do it efficiently. Our machine included ten discreet steps, eight simple machines, and four spec ific energy transfers. The goal of this assignment was to construct a usable machine that was successful in both the construction and testing of it, to demonstrate our understanding of the physics concepts we have been taught, and to build on our teamwork and community skills not only as individual groups, but also the class as a whole.
Construction Log
The first thing we did when we received this project was to sit down and brainstorm. We came up with tons of different ideas, congregating all of our individual step designs and combining them into our first design. Almost all of this first design was translated into our final piece, like the two-level design, the levers in the beginning, the pulleys at the end, and of course our objective remained constant, that is, to staple a paper.
We ran into lots of bumps while we were constructing, it wasn't just a smooth road. Lots of the materials we used, for instance, had to be upgraded or swapped for others of its kind. Things like the levers, where we started off using simple wooden rulers and progressed to more customizable wooden pieces that we drilled into to make more precise fulcrums, and like the screw, where it took us weeks to find the appropriate material to use, which ended up being a flexible aluminum wire, coiled into a track. A very big issue we ran into was the string type we used in the pulley system. It was difficult to find a balance between too thin and too thick and then the issue of fraying came into play as well. The wood we were using had many knots in it, forcing us to result to a mess of crooked nails and wood glue in order to hold our little 'coffee table' together.
Along with all of the little flaws in our building materials, aesthetics became very prominent to us about halfway through construction, when although our project was coming together fine, it was less-than-pleasing to the eye. The name for our project, "A Mess of Duct Tape and Wood", was really dubbed around that time, because it honestly was a mess of duct tape and wood. One that worked nonetheless, but it was rather ugly. So, with regards to Mr. Williams, we took away much of the duct tape and enrobed this mess in our beloved school's colors, green and gold to cover the patchy wood and stray calculations written on the boards. I covered a shoebox in crisp white paper, and Daria added very professional looking orange cards that marked separate steps, energy transfers, and the simple machines. And the result, while still certainly not the most beautiful machine in the bunch, was a much more aesthetically pleasing machine. Hey, if aesthetics weren't important in engineering, we'd have really ugly cities. So pleasing to the common eye is certainly a factor in the engineering cycle.
In order to help you further understand the steps involved in our machine, consider the following concepts, all which were calculated at some point in the project.
Potential Energy/Kinetic Energy: Energy can be transferred from potential to kinetic, and in between objects. Potential energy is like 'stored' energy. Energy that is 'ready to go', like gas in a car, or a cross country runner at the starting line of a race. Kinetic energy is energy at work. The car driving on a freeway, or the cross country runner running in their race. ALL Potential energy will be converted into Kinetic energy.
Mechanical Advantage: How much easier a machine makes doing stuff for you.
Force: a push or a pull. Net (overall) force is measured by taking the mass of the object times the acceleration.
Work: Stuff done by a force acting through a distance. Calculated by multiplying force times distance.
Detailed Narrative
Step 1: Ball rolls down an inclined plane.
The ball had a potential energy of 0.024435, all of which was converted then to kinetic energy.
Step 2: Ball hits a class 1 lever, the lever rises.
The lever had a mechanical advantage of 1.23.
Step 3: Class 2 lever rises, marble rolls down.
The lever had a mechanical advantage of 6.5.
Step 4: Marble rolls down the screw.
The screw reduces the force of the marble 17.14 times. This was calculated by finding the overall length of the screw, then the height, and dividing the distance input (length) by the distance output (height).
Step 5: Ball rolls out of the screw and down an inclined plane.
The ball had a potential energy of 0.0288.
Step 6: Ball hits marbles.
The ball has a kinetic energy of 0.0288.
Step 7: Dominoes hit the golf ball.
The dominoes have a kinetic energy of 0.0288.
Step 8: Golf ball hits the scissors, scissors cut string.
The wedge in the scissor blades have a mechanical advantage of 1.5.
Step 9: The mass that is attached to a pulley is released, it drops on the stapler and staples the paper.
The pulley has a mechanical advantage of 1. It also has a work of 7 Joules.
Step 10: Second mass attached to a pulley drops off the table and raises the paper.
The pulley has a mechanical advantage of 1. It also has a work of 4.2 Joules.
Construction Log
The first thing we did when we received this project was to sit down and brainstorm. We came up with tons of different ideas, congregating all of our individual step designs and combining them into our first design. Almost all of this first design was translated into our final piece, like the two-level design, the levers in the beginning, the pulleys at the end, and of course our objective remained constant, that is, to staple a paper.
We ran into lots of bumps while we were constructing, it wasn't just a smooth road. Lots of the materials we used, for instance, had to be upgraded or swapped for others of its kind. Things like the levers, where we started off using simple wooden rulers and progressed to more customizable wooden pieces that we drilled into to make more precise fulcrums, and like the screw, where it took us weeks to find the appropriate material to use, which ended up being a flexible aluminum wire, coiled into a track. A very big issue we ran into was the string type we used in the pulley system. It was difficult to find a balance between too thin and too thick and then the issue of fraying came into play as well. The wood we were using had many knots in it, forcing us to result to a mess of crooked nails and wood glue in order to hold our little 'coffee table' together.
Along with all of the little flaws in our building materials, aesthetics became very prominent to us about halfway through construction, when although our project was coming together fine, it was less-than-pleasing to the eye. The name for our project, "A Mess of Duct Tape and Wood", was really dubbed around that time, because it honestly was a mess of duct tape and wood. One that worked nonetheless, but it was rather ugly. So, with regards to Mr. Williams, we took away much of the duct tape and enrobed this mess in our beloved school's colors, green and gold to cover the patchy wood and stray calculations written on the boards. I covered a shoebox in crisp white paper, and Daria added very professional looking orange cards that marked separate steps, energy transfers, and the simple machines. And the result, while still certainly not the most beautiful machine in the bunch, was a much more aesthetically pleasing machine. Hey, if aesthetics weren't important in engineering, we'd have really ugly cities. So pleasing to the common eye is certainly a factor in the engineering cycle.
In order to help you further understand the steps involved in our machine, consider the following concepts, all which were calculated at some point in the project.
Potential Energy/Kinetic Energy: Energy can be transferred from potential to kinetic, and in between objects. Potential energy is like 'stored' energy. Energy that is 'ready to go', like gas in a car, or a cross country runner at the starting line of a race. Kinetic energy is energy at work. The car driving on a freeway, or the cross country runner running in their race. ALL Potential energy will be converted into Kinetic energy.
Mechanical Advantage: How much easier a machine makes doing stuff for you.
Force: a push or a pull. Net (overall) force is measured by taking the mass of the object times the acceleration.
Work: Stuff done by a force acting through a distance. Calculated by multiplying force times distance.
Detailed Narrative
Step 1: Ball rolls down an inclined plane.
The ball had a potential energy of 0.024435, all of which was converted then to kinetic energy.
Step 2: Ball hits a class 1 lever, the lever rises.
The lever had a mechanical advantage of 1.23.
Step 3: Class 2 lever rises, marble rolls down.
The lever had a mechanical advantage of 6.5.
Step 4: Marble rolls down the screw.
The screw reduces the force of the marble 17.14 times. This was calculated by finding the overall length of the screw, then the height, and dividing the distance input (length) by the distance output (height).
Step 5: Ball rolls out of the screw and down an inclined plane.
The ball had a potential energy of 0.0288.
Step 6: Ball hits marbles.
The ball has a kinetic energy of 0.0288.
Step 7: Dominoes hit the golf ball.
The dominoes have a kinetic energy of 0.0288.
Step 8: Golf ball hits the scissors, scissors cut string.
The wedge in the scissor blades have a mechanical advantage of 1.5.
Step 9: The mass that is attached to a pulley is released, it drops on the stapler and staples the paper.
The pulley has a mechanical advantage of 1. It also has a work of 7 Joules.
Step 10: Second mass attached to a pulley drops off the table and raises the paper.
The pulley has a mechanical advantage of 1. It also has a work of 4.2 Joules.
Evaluation
Overall, this project was a great success. It ended up working quite frequently (except for at presentation night!), and really elaborated on the number of physics concepts taught to us at the beginning of the project and throughout it. It really stressed my understanding of these concepts and allowed me to apply them to real-life, which was really neat. I am very proud of the project we produced and the work we did. As the introductory project into the STEM program and the first sophisticated application of the general concepts we've learned in this first course, I'd say it's highly successful and very pleasing to the students. It certainly lives up to the image that we've been presented with coming in to the STEM program, and it's exactly the type of stuff I was looking forward to doing upon joining this program.
Our group was very successful in working together, although we did have some bumps and bruises along the way. Whether it was difficulty in communication or just general disputes, all of it was soon solved with the aid of Mr. Williams. After a hits and misses, we all seemed to finally understand each other and would resolve to work together again. We quickly found a 'rhythm' and absolved ourselves from conflict, and worked unanimously for the rest of the project. This project taught me a few things. How to communicate my needs and ideas more clearly and concisely, and how to avoid conflicts by acting as a mediator between students. It encouraged me to review my own process, to see if I ought to be blamed or if I was in the wrong rather than to immediately point fingers the other direction. The biggest conflict was between one of my group mates and the rest of us. We constantly argued for the first few weeks, and we'd complain that they weren't doing any work, or they were completely defiant and wouldn't listen at all. But when Mr. Williams came to negotiate, we took a step back and assessed ourselves. Were they truly disregarding work? Are we listening to their side of the story? Soon after, we communicated our thoughts on the topic and completely solved it in less than one period. We listened to them, they listened to us. And although I still feel I could work on communication skills between peers, I feel it has greatly improved since I first started the project.
As soon as we solved our fight, we worked brilliantly together. And I believe that was one of our strengths. We didn't really need to boss each other around or assign tasks, we all assessed the state of the project and worked on the parts that weren't quite finished, or needed to be tweaked, etc.. We all really put our best effort in and worked together on it.
Another thing I might work on is the organization of the project itself. This meaning keeping a 'brainstorming sheet' where I could keep track of my ideas, which I would periodically jot down and then subsequently misplace. Or I could keep a more detailed description of the project along with this, so I'd always have ideas. I feel that we could have made a more creative, more exciting project had I kept record of all the ideas I'd think of before bed, or in the shower, or even during cross country. That being said, I still am immensely proud of our project and what we have accomplished here.
I think this entire Rube Goldberg Project was absolutely spectacular. It was fun, it was educational, it touched on community aspects, it really covered everything that other school projects simply dream of. It was a fantastic way to start off the year, and I really enjoyed it.
Overall, this project was a great success. It ended up working quite frequently (except for at presentation night!), and really elaborated on the number of physics concepts taught to us at the beginning of the project and throughout it. It really stressed my understanding of these concepts and allowed me to apply them to real-life, which was really neat. I am very proud of the project we produced and the work we did. As the introductory project into the STEM program and the first sophisticated application of the general concepts we've learned in this first course, I'd say it's highly successful and very pleasing to the students. It certainly lives up to the image that we've been presented with coming in to the STEM program, and it's exactly the type of stuff I was looking forward to doing upon joining this program.
Our group was very successful in working together, although we did have some bumps and bruises along the way. Whether it was difficulty in communication or just general disputes, all of it was soon solved with the aid of Mr. Williams. After a hits and misses, we all seemed to finally understand each other and would resolve to work together again. We quickly found a 'rhythm' and absolved ourselves from conflict, and worked unanimously for the rest of the project. This project taught me a few things. How to communicate my needs and ideas more clearly and concisely, and how to avoid conflicts by acting as a mediator between students. It encouraged me to review my own process, to see if I ought to be blamed or if I was in the wrong rather than to immediately point fingers the other direction. The biggest conflict was between one of my group mates and the rest of us. We constantly argued for the first few weeks, and we'd complain that they weren't doing any work, or they were completely defiant and wouldn't listen at all. But when Mr. Williams came to negotiate, we took a step back and assessed ourselves. Were they truly disregarding work? Are we listening to their side of the story? Soon after, we communicated our thoughts on the topic and completely solved it in less than one period. We listened to them, they listened to us. And although I still feel I could work on communication skills between peers, I feel it has greatly improved since I first started the project.
As soon as we solved our fight, we worked brilliantly together. And I believe that was one of our strengths. We didn't really need to boss each other around or assign tasks, we all assessed the state of the project and worked on the parts that weren't quite finished, or needed to be tweaked, etc.. We all really put our best effort in and worked together on it.
Another thing I might work on is the organization of the project itself. This meaning keeping a 'brainstorming sheet' where I could keep track of my ideas, which I would periodically jot down and then subsequently misplace. Or I could keep a more detailed description of the project along with this, so I'd always have ideas. I feel that we could have made a more creative, more exciting project had I kept record of all the ideas I'd think of before bed, or in the shower, or even during cross country. That being said, I still am immensely proud of our project and what we have accomplished here.
I think this entire Rube Goldberg Project was absolutely spectacular. It was fun, it was educational, it touched on community aspects, it really covered everything that other school projects simply dream of. It was a fantastic way to start off the year, and I really enjoyed it.