our rube Goldberg machine
For this project, the job of our team was to build a rube goldberg machine. we hasd to use 5 different simple machines. Our simple machines were: inclined plane, screw , lever, wedge, and pulley. we had to have at least 9 different steps and 4 energy transfers. our project had 11 steps. Our first step was pulling down a weight behind the board to move the wedge up which triggered the car to go down the plane. Our second step was the car falling into the cup starting the pulley. The third step was the weight going up on the lever to trigger the marble to go down the slope. Our fourth step was the marble going down the inclined plane into the screw. Our fifth step was the marble coming out of the screw. Our sixth step was the marble rolling down the inclined plane. Our seventh step was the marble bouncing off the gutter guards into the other inclined plane. Our eighth step was the marble rolling into the Nerf ball. Our ninth step was the Nerf ball rolling into the dominoes. Our tenth step was the dominoes toppling the cup. Finally, our eleventh step was rolling dice into a bowl. Our four energy transfers were: #1 The weight lifting the wedge, making the can going down the plane which is potential to kinetic energy. #2 The car pulling the cup down which pulled the weight up to make the marble roll down the inclined plane which is kinetic to kinetic energy. #3 The marble rolling into the Nerf ball which is kinetic to kinetic energy. #4 The dominoes toppling over the cup which is kinetic to potential back to kinetic energy.
Major Physics Concepts
Velocity: The speed of something in a given direction. it is calculated by dividing distance over time. the marble has velocity when its going down the inclined plane. Speed: The rate in which an object covers distance. It is calculated by dividing distance over time. the marble has speed when going down an inclined plane. Acceleration: the rate at which the velocity of an object changes over time. it is calculated by dividing the change of velocity by the change of time. The car has acceleration as it goes down the ramp. Force: a push or pull upon an object resulting from the objects interaction with another object. it is calculated by multiplying the mass times the acceleration. the applies force to keep the car from going down the ramp. Velocity: the rate of change of the position of an object equivalent to a specification of its speed and direction of motion. It is calculated by dividing distance over time. the marble has velocity as it is going down the inclined plane. Toppling: Object falling over due to an interruption in the area of support. when the nerf ball hits the first domino, the dominoes topple on to each other. Kinetic Energy: The energy that an object possesses due to its motion. It is calculated by mass times velocity divided by two, squared. when the marble is going down the ramp, it has kinetic energy. Potential Energy: the energy stored in an object due to its position. It is calculated by multiplying mas acceleration and height. Mechanical Advantage: The ratio of force produced by a machine to the force applied to it, used in assessing the performance of a machine. The mechanical advantage of the pulley was 1. Torque: A twisting force that causes rotation. it is calculated by multiplying force times distance. the ramp has torque on the marble. Momentum: The quantity of motion of a moving body, measured as a product of it's mass and velocity. It is calculated by multiplying the mass by the velocity. the marble has an acceleration of 0.002 newtons. Project History Day 1- We assembled the two planks of wood and we drilled two stand on the top piece to support it, so we wouldn't have to hold it. Day 2- We attached our first inclined plane And put the pulley on. It took lots of trial and patience to put it on correctly. Day 3- We added the lever and created a platform for the weight of the pulley. We also applied a second inclined plan and decided to use a plastic cup instead of paper. Day 4- We drilled a hole through the plastic cup and we added finishing touches to the inclined plane. Day 5- We drilled two giant holes to stick the screw through, but we soon found out that the material for the screw was to big for the holes so we used a smaller one. Day 6- We spent the whole day working on the screw/pipe and doing multiple test runs. Our new pipe worked so much better than our old one! Day 7- We drilled the second piece of would to the top one and brainstormed ideas for it. We also attached barriers to different places to guide the marble. Day 8- We placed our two first inclined planes on the bottom piece of the project. Day 9- At this point we were running out of time so we split into pairs (Olivia and Citlalli, and Ben and I) to speed up our building. Ben and I worked on attached a tilted inclined plane and also adding more barriers for the marble. while Olivia and Citlalli worked on building the domino staircase. Day 10- Olivia and Citlalli finished the domino staircase and Ben and I drilled the last pieces of wood in to the board. Building was finished for our machine so Olivia and Citlalli came in at lunch to decorate/ paint it. Day11- We made final adjustments where needed and did many test runs throughout the day. We additionally started on the calculations for the physics concepts. |
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reflection
Overall, I think our project went very well. A skill that I gained is that I know how to use a drill. I didn't know how to use a drill that well, but now I know that I do. Now I feel that I can help with projects around my house. I need to improve on being more apart of the group like sharing my ideas and try asking more questions. A peak was that we all worked really well as a team, and we never argued. A pit was that we were figuring out what our end result was going to be, and one person wanted to fill a bowl with dog food, one person wanted to roll bakugan, and one person wanted to flip a coin. We all thought about it and we didn't choose any of those ideas, we chose rolling dice, and everyone liked that idea.