RUBE GOLDBERG MACHINE
a little about Rube goldberg
Rube Goldberg was an american cartoonist, engineer, and inventor. He was born July 4th, 1883. He was the first known person to create the "Rube Goldberg machine" that was basically an overcomplicated machine that did a simple task. My goal here is to create a RG machine having at least 10 steps, and 5 of 6 simple machines. Our simple task is to staple 2 pieces of paper together.
6 SIMPLE MACHINES:
INCLINED PLANE - a plane surface inclined to the horizon, or forming with a horizontal plane at any angle but a right angle.
SCREW - a sharp-pointed metal pin with a helical thread, used to join things together.
PULLEY - a wheel, with a grooved rim for carrying a line: One end of the line is pulled to raise a weight at the other end
WHEEL AND AXEL - a simple machine with a cylindrical drum to which a wheel parallel with the drum is firmly fastened
WEDGE - a piece of hard material with a shape of sharply acute angle, for raising, holding, or splitting objects
LEVER - a straight bar that pivots in one concentrated point that is used to move an object at a second point
INCLINED PLANE - a plane surface inclined to the horizon, or forming with a horizontal plane at any angle but a right angle.
SCREW - a sharp-pointed metal pin with a helical thread, used to join things together.
PULLEY - a wheel, with a grooved rim for carrying a line: One end of the line is pulled to raise a weight at the other end
WHEEL AND AXEL - a simple machine with a cylindrical drum to which a wheel parallel with the drum is firmly fastened
WEDGE - a piece of hard material with a shape of sharply acute angle, for raising, holding, or splitting objects
LEVER - a straight bar that pivots in one concentrated point that is used to move an object at a second point
Step 1 - A 10 centimeter long inclined plane
Step 2 - A 32 centimeter long inclined plane
Step 3 - A 18 centimeter long lever system
Step 4 - A 38 centimeter long inclined plane
Step 5 - A 13 centimeter long inclined plane
Step 6 - A 15 centimeter long inclined plane
Step 7 - A 63 centimeter long inclined plane
Step 8 - A 47 centimeter long inclined plane
Step 9 - A 96 centimeter long screw
Step 10 - A wedge system (scissors)
Step 11 - A pulley system holding a 1 kg mass
Step 12 - A 1 kg mass falling on a stapler
Step 13 - A stapler stapling 2 classified documents
Step 2 - A 32 centimeter long inclined plane
Step 3 - A 18 centimeter long lever system
Step 4 - A 38 centimeter long inclined plane
Step 5 - A 13 centimeter long inclined plane
Step 6 - A 15 centimeter long inclined plane
Step 7 - A 63 centimeter long inclined plane
Step 8 - A 47 centimeter long inclined plane
Step 9 - A 96 centimeter long screw
Step 10 - A wedge system (scissors)
Step 11 - A pulley system holding a 1 kg mass
Step 12 - A 1 kg mass falling on a stapler
Step 13 - A stapler stapling 2 classified documents
Step by step video in slo-mo A DEMONSTRATION of the machine
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Our goal in the Rube Goldberg Machine (RGM) is to staple 2 pieces of paper together. My grupe mates were Naomi, Natalie, and Marslina. We were asked to make a RGM with 5 simple machines, ten steps, and five energy transfers. our simple goal is stapling two pieces of paper together. We came up with different ideas about what our inefficient, over complex, stapler should look like. We came up with diagrams and equations for our different steps and found a way to put the steps together. Our first staep is a 10 cm ramp. You can't really see it in the video, but the ramp is steep and small. It has a Mechanical Advantage (MA) of 1.6. MA means how many times easier it is to push something or walk, up the ramp. If you think about it, we are using the ramps for the opposite purpose. We are using them for going down, so in our case the steeper the easier. The equation for MA is the length of the plane divided by the change of height (elavation). Our second step is an another inclined plane (ramp) that is 32 cm long. It's MA is 3.2 and the acceleration of the ball going down the inclined plane is 3 m/s/s (meters per second squared). The third step in our machine is a lever. As you can see in the video the lever is in a vertical position. The top of the lever is sticking up above the inclined plane and the lower half just above the the next inclined plane. The force of the ball transfers its energy and force to the lever. The force of the ball: 0.0229N. the lever does a work of 0.006 J of work. The lever than outputs the same force on the first domino. N (Newton) is a unit of force. you may have herd of them. About 5N equals 1 LB of force. Our next step was dominoes but they took to long to set up, and they kept on falling over. We just got rid of them and put a glass ball in their place. The ball rolled down our 4th and 5th step. Our 4th, and 5th step are sort of combined. our 4th step is a 38 cm long inclined plane that has an MA of 8.4 and an acceleration of 1.16 m/s/s (pretty slow). Our 4th and 5th step are both inclined planes that are combined but the 5th step is much more steep than the 4th step. There is a change of acceleration from 1.16 m/s/s to 5.6 m/s/s. The next step is a 15cm long inclined plane. We actually had a really huge problem with our design. the ball would bounce of as soon as it dropped of from the ramp before it. We put in a wooden wedge between the track and the wall so the track was at an angle. It still didn't work! I originally thought that the ball was too bouncy but I found out that it wasn't the ball, but the wooden track. We made our RGM out of nice, hard and dense cabinet wood. We needed a material that would cushion the fall of the ball. Natalie, Marslina and Naomi came up with a real good idea. They stapled some regular school paper towels to the ramp and that absorbed the impact. The ball makes a significant energy transfer in this step. While it's in free-fall, it builds up Kinetic Energy (KE) until the ball hits the ground and turns into Potential Energy (PE). Energy transfers aren't that special. An energy transfer is when a object stops, bounces, falls, hits etc. KE is an energy only created in the instant before an object hits the ground. PE is created all the time, whether your moving or not. There are several different types of energy. If you want to learn more about them, click the link: http://www.nmsea.org/Curriculum/Primer/forms_of_energy.htm My 7th step is the longest inclined plane on the RGM. It is 63 cm long with an MA of 5.72 and an acceleration of 1.7 m/s/s. The ball gradually makes its way down to step 8: The Zip line. Originally, we were going to do a horizontal lever that lifted a wall or something releasing a ball, but the plans changed. I got inspired from another group that were going to make a zip line as a step in their RGM. I thought this was a way better idea than a boring lever. I told my grupe mates about my idea and they thought it was a cool idea. Also, it would be a simple machine that we've never used before in our project. A pulley. But I was wrong. Since the Zip line was not actually pulling any weights, it counted as another inclined plane. (Still a cool idea tho.) Our 9th step is the screw. the golf ball gets hit by the zip line's weight with a force of 0.29N. The golf ball goes down a change of height of 27 cm. The screw itself is 96 cm long. The next step is a scissor glued at a 55˚angle. There isn't really any calculations that I could do for the scissors except the force from the ball to the scissor handle. That force is 1.23 N. That action would create the scissors to cut a rope that was pulled taut between the scissors. The rope is connected to a 1 kg (1000g) weight. Our next step is the weight itself. the 1000g weight dropped down from a height of 15 cm. personally, I think that this is a really cool step. it is a really simple step but gives so much information besides math and science. There is also a very distinctive energy transfer in that step. As the weight is hanging pulled taut by the rope, it has an PE charge. when the rope gets cut by the scissors, the weight free falls down to the stapler. As the weight falls closer to the ground (stopping point) the PE charge turns into a KE charge. KE can build up infinintly until the object creating the KE reaches a stopping point. Our final step is not actually a step that reacquires math or science. This step is simply the action of the stapler stapling two pieces of paper together.