The purpose of the Rube Goldberg project was to do a relatively simple task in an overly complex way. We learned about different forces and how they worked like gravity, velocity, kinetic energy, and potential energy. We first wanted to figure out what our end product would be in our machine. We all brainstormed and though of raising a flag or making a boat float, but then we came up with dropping an Oreo into a cup of milk. Our next step was to figure out what 10 steps we would carry out, to complete our last task. We also needed to have five simple machines in our project. We created our blueprints and when finished, we started building our machine.
Slide Show Presentation
For the last month my group and I have been constructing our Rube Goldberg Project. We have had around 25 hours of build time and many extra lunches. My group had 11 building days and 3 days to prepare our presentation, with some time to do some extra tweaking. After much sweat, blood and tears we completed our project in the nick of time. I worked 90% of the time and it was one of the greatest moments ever when we got it to work perfectly.
Our Rube Goldberg Machine has a total of tens steps. The first of our 10 steps is a Pulley System. We pull the string down and the gate lifts up, letting the car roll down the inclined plane. Our second step is we have our car roll down the inclined plane and collide into the ball bearing. That leads to our third step called the Screw. When the ball bearing rolls down the tube and onto the pegs. The fight step is when the ball bearing rolls down the pegs and goes down a tube that leading it to the lever. Step five, we have our Lever. The ball bearing comes out of the tube and hits the lever letting itself and the blue marble (which is on the other side of the lever) down onto the ramp. Our sixth step is called the Ball Trap. It is when the ball bearing rolls down the inclined plane first and falls into a whole. Then the blue marble falls off the lever and rolls right over it. For step seven, we have our Collision. The blue marble drops off the inclined plane and hits the curve, and it collide with the clear ball. Our step eight is our Wedge. The clear ball drops into the cup that pulls the wedge out from under the yellow marble. For step nine we have our Energy Transfer. The yellow marble falls down a tube and hits a golf ball down the inclined plane. Then our final step, step 10 we have The Oreo Drop. The golf ball rolls down the inclined plane and collides into the oreo, causing the oreo to drop into the bowl of milk. With the 3 days of preparation, we also included our calculations involving our power point, schematics, and presenting time.
Reflection
Overall, I think that we made a very successful project that worked very well with consistency. Our presentation was on point and I think we all did an outstanding job with our parts. I also thought that we could of improved our work if we handled time better and the way we worked. I learned many things in making this Rube Goldberg Project. With my group members, myself, and new facts or content. The biggest thing I learned was that you have to be able to work with anyone and they may work differently than you. Everyone in my group worked in our different ways which kept our group going well. We got over our problems together the best way posable. Like, most of the time we all had to come together and share all our ideas to figure out our next step would be. With that, we figured out who would work on what steps and that everyone had the same amount of work to do in the group. For me, the peak was being able to present better with more pride and confidence to the audience. Like, the first time I spoke I was talking really softly and as the night went on, I gained my confidence. I felt like I was a lot more loud and my information was being given out and everyone could hear and understand what I was saying. I felt like I improved a lot on my presentation skills. Another peak for me was patience and self-control. Like taking a step back from something and gaining patience when something goes wrong. I would go work on some other part, so we would all contribute to the project together. One pit for me was mainly, staying on task. I liked to always wonder around and see other peoples projects and just talk to everyone around me. I could get off track really easily and that is one pit that I need to get better on. Another pit that I encountered was time management. We were going really slow in the beginning and in the end, we were rushing left and right to get some things done. Like on the last day, I barely finished the Schematics and our group just finished getting everything in the right place. It was a big rush and very nerve-racking through the final parts. So next time, I will handle my time better.
Concepts
Mechanical Advantage- Mechanical advantage is how much easier the machine makes work. This is calculated by dividing the input distance by the output distance. We used it in our pulley and our pegs that had a certain MA.
Force- Is a push or pull of an object. Force=ma. We were able to calculate that the force of the ball bearing on the lever and the force of the blue marble when its about to hit the clear ball.
Speed/Velocity- Speed is the amount of distance an object covers in a given amount of time, and velocity is speed with a given direction. We used the formula of speed that is Speed=D/t. We used it when the car rolled down the inclined plain and the car had a certain speed and velocity.
Momentum/Impulse- Momentum is force or speed of movement and impulse is a driving or motivating force. Momentum equals Impulse. Like on our screw, we had an impulse and when the yellow ball hit the golf ball, we calculated the yellow balls momentum.
Potential Energy- Is the energy of an object in a certain position. The formula is PE=mgh. Our group were able to calculate the change in PE for our wedge.
Kinetic Energy- Is the energy that it possesses due to its motion. The formula is KE=1/2mv^2. We used it for our Oreo drop at the end of our project.
Deceleration- The decrease of velocity. We were able to used it when the blue marble decelerates after it has ran over the ball bearing(in the ball trap).