What is our Rube Goldberg Project?
Over the course of 7 weeks we were tasked with building a Rube Goldberg machine. We had to decide upon a theme, steps, and to utilize the principals of design which all of these can be seen in our slideshow presentation below. In this webpage you'll also see our blueprint, video and picture of the machine, and my project reflection.
Blueprint:
Our Rube Goldberg Machine:
The Machine in Action:
Reflection:
During the course of our Rube Goldberg project I learned several key concepts. One of those concepts was bettering my use and knowledge of tools and power tools. Before we even started building Mr. Williams taught us all the proper uses of the tools we were using. And over the course of the 7 weeks I was able to perfect my usage. I was able to drill, saw, and hammer various things for our project. A time when I displayed this was when I successfully set up a miter saw and successfully used it to cut wood. Another thing I did well during the project was helping contribute to the building of the machine. I helped build various aspects of the machine such as parts of the pulley, the second ramp, the Bowser swing, and other little things. I also helped supply items for the machine such as the amiibo, cereal, bowl, and hooks for pulley.
I may have learned some things from working on the Rube Goldberg machine but I still have much to learn. One thing I struggled with was to try to be less of a boss towards my group members. I struggled with this since I wanted to get things done my way but this was a group project. I felt like I did improve in this field but there’s still room to grow. In the future I’ll try to take more of a backseat. Another thing I could better myself on is helping out every step of the way. I felt like I didn’t help out enough in the testing and perfecting stage of the machine. For next time I’ll try to help out with every step of the process.
I may have learned some things from working on the Rube Goldberg machine but I still have much to learn. One thing I struggled with was to try to be less of a boss towards my group members. I struggled with this since I wanted to get things done my way but this was a group project. I felt like I did improve in this field but there’s still room to grow. In the future I’ll try to take more of a backseat. Another thing I could better myself on is helping out every step of the way. I felt like I didn’t help out enough in the testing and perfecting stage of the machine. For next time I’ll try to help out with every step of the process.
Concepts:
In our Rube Goldberg machine we learned about and applied several physics concepts in our machine. These include:
Force- Force of an object is its push or pull. It’s represented in unit form by Newton's. In our machine this can be seen in the lever when it hits the Bowser.
Potential Energy- Potential energy is the energy an object has due to its position and height. This can be seen in the marble before the flagpole hits it.
Kinetic Energy- Kinetic energy is the energy due to motion. This can be seen after flagpole hits the marble and it starts moving.
Work- Work is the amount of energy put into something. This can be seen with the pulley with the distance and force in it.
Velocity- Velocity is the rate of covered distance in a direction. As the pacman marble rolls down at a certain meters per second.
Acceleration- Acceleration is the rate of change of velocity. This can be seen when the hatch is pulled and the masses velocity changes.
Mechanical Advantage- Mechanical advantage is how much easier a tool makes a task. Our pulley has a Mechanical Advantage of 2.
Force- Force of an object is its push or pull. It’s represented in unit form by Newton's. In our machine this can be seen in the lever when it hits the Bowser.
Potential Energy- Potential energy is the energy an object has due to its position and height. This can be seen in the marble before the flagpole hits it.
Kinetic Energy- Kinetic energy is the energy due to motion. This can be seen after flagpole hits the marble and it starts moving.
Work- Work is the amount of energy put into something. This can be seen with the pulley with the distance and force in it.
Velocity- Velocity is the rate of covered distance in a direction. As the pacman marble rolls down at a certain meters per second.
Acceleration- Acceleration is the rate of change of velocity. This can be seen when the hatch is pulled and the masses velocity changes.
Mechanical Advantage- Mechanical advantage is how much easier a tool makes a task. Our pulley has a Mechanical Advantage of 2.