What is a rube Goldberg machine?
A series of complex steps that accomplish a simple task Our process The past few weeks, spent constructing our rube goldberg machines has been a fun and educational experience. My group began our process with a rough blue-print which was then refined as the process continues. Now having an idea of what our machine would do, we then moved on to the actual construction of our machine. Each machine, must include 10 steps and 5 simple machines which complete a simple task. Our first simple machine was our inclined plane which sent a marble down another inclined plane, which hits a lever setting off another marble to travel down a screw. After the marble travels through the screw, it rolls into a weighted cup which sets off our pulley. This then raises an inclined plane, which sends off our motorcyclist to then hit our wheel and axle. After this step, the force of the hit sets off a series of dominoes which ultimatey completes our end goal which is to pour “scooby snacks” into a dog bowl. After we finished our construction, any artistic pieces that we wanted we added. The next week was spent working out calculations, perfecting our to-scale blueprint, and going through our oral presentation as a group. This was about a month long process and in term felt very educational. reflection Although my group and i felt challenged at times, I think we did an overall good job and put forth our best work. I feel, my group really worked as a team and took constructive criticism very well. Personally think it could have done a better job at focusing and not getting easily distracted. For example I often times would wander from my group, making it difficult to work as a team. I also learned it how important it is to manage your time in a long project like this. For example, we would often put off difficult tasks, resulting in a lot of stress later. Next time, I going to put my full efforts into managing my time accordingly. One peak I personally had was becoming more comfortable using power tools, before this project I had very little experience. After this project, i now understand how to properly use each tool. Another peek was gaining patience. I will admit, I am a very impatient person and when things go wrong a tend to freak out. I found methods during this process, to relax, take a deep breath and work through problems. Overall it was a growing and learning experience that i would not trade for anything. concepts Acceleration- the rate of change in an objects velocity acceleration=velocity/time acceleration=v/t Velocity- the rate of covered distance in a direction velocity=distance/time velocity=d/t Force- push or pull on an object force=mass x acceleration force=ma Work- amount of energy put into something work=force x distance work=fd Potential Energy- energy stored in an object at rest PE=mass x acceleration due to gravity x height PE=mg*height Mechanical Advantage- how many times easier a tool makes something MA=force effort/force load MA=Feffort/Fload Kinetic energy- amount of energy an object has due to motion KE=½ mass and velocity squared |