We were given the task to make a Rube Goldberg Machine for STEM this year.A Rube Goldberg Machine is a long and complicated series of steps to lead to one end goal. This project I learned a lot of things about physics and how things worked. We had 10 steps that were needed in this project along with five of the six simple machines. This project was very hard because we didn't know how a lot of the machines worked. We had three days to plan our project and after that, nine days to build. After that we had three days to plan our presentation and then, it was the presentation night.
Physics Concepts
We used various physics concepts on our Rube Goldberg machine. These concepts included acceleration, mechanical advantage, force, transfer of energy, and work.
Acceleration: Acceleration is the change of speed over the change in time. We used acceleration to measure how fast the balls were accelerating down the inclined planes.
Mechanical Advantage: Mechanical advantage is how much easier it is to use a simple machine then doing pure work. We used this to measure how helpful our simple machines were.
Force: Force is the push or pull on an object which causes a change in motion. This was used to show how forceful the domino falling onto the lever was.
Transfer of Energy: Transfer of energy is the transfer of energy from one object to another. This can come in forms such as kinetic to kinetic, potential to kinetic and a few other forms. We used kinetic to kinetic to measure the dumbell transferring energy to the marble.
Work: Work is the amount of energy used to do something. We used this to measure how much work was done to raise the flag using a pulley.
Simple Machines
Simple machines are things that make work easier to do. This is measured in mechanical advantage. For our project we had to use five of the six simple machines.
Inclined plane: Inclined plane is a slope that changes the slope that is used to raise or lower something. This was used throughout our project as a surface for the marbles to roll on.
Pulley: A pulley makes a task of raising something easier. To measure a pulley's mechanical advantage you count the wraps around the wheel that the string goes around. We used this to raise the flag
Screw: The screw is a circular inclined plane. We used this for the marble to go around.
Lever: A lever is used to put force into one side and make it easier on the other side. We used this to transfer the energy of a domino to help start a marble roll.
Wheel and axle: A wheel and axle is a simple machine where the input is placed on the inside (axle) and is used to roll the wheel on the outside. An example of this was our dumbbell.
Reflection
The building of our machine was a long and tough process. The group aspect was a tough thing to work through in the first few days but at the end our team started working together nicely. The ideas that we had clashed, but in the end we put up a projects that we all contributed to and were proud of. If I could go back and do one thing, it would be to fix our time management in getting the project finished.
Physics Concepts
We used various physics concepts on our Rube Goldberg machine. These concepts included acceleration, mechanical advantage, force, transfer of energy, and work.
Acceleration: Acceleration is the change of speed over the change in time. We used acceleration to measure how fast the balls were accelerating down the inclined planes.
Mechanical Advantage: Mechanical advantage is how much easier it is to use a simple machine then doing pure work. We used this to measure how helpful our simple machines were.
Force: Force is the push or pull on an object which causes a change in motion. This was used to show how forceful the domino falling onto the lever was.
Transfer of Energy: Transfer of energy is the transfer of energy from one object to another. This can come in forms such as kinetic to kinetic, potential to kinetic and a few other forms. We used kinetic to kinetic to measure the dumbell transferring energy to the marble.
Work: Work is the amount of energy used to do something. We used this to measure how much work was done to raise the flag using a pulley.
Simple Machines
Simple machines are things that make work easier to do. This is measured in mechanical advantage. For our project we had to use five of the six simple machines.
Inclined plane: Inclined plane is a slope that changes the slope that is used to raise or lower something. This was used throughout our project as a surface for the marbles to roll on.
Pulley: A pulley makes a task of raising something easier. To measure a pulley's mechanical advantage you count the wraps around the wheel that the string goes around. We used this to raise the flag
Screw: The screw is a circular inclined plane. We used this for the marble to go around.
Lever: A lever is used to put force into one side and make it easier on the other side. We used this to transfer the energy of a domino to help start a marble roll.
Wheel and axle: A wheel and axle is a simple machine where the input is placed on the inside (axle) and is used to roll the wheel on the outside. An example of this was our dumbbell.
Reflection
The building of our machine was a long and tough process. The group aspect was a tough thing to work through in the first few days but at the end our team started working together nicely. The ideas that we had clashed, but in the end we put up a projects that we all contributed to and were proud of. If I could go back and do one thing, it would be to fix our time management in getting the project finished.