Rube Goldberg Machine
A complex contraption designed to perform a simple task through a sequence of intricate steps.
Spring 2017
Goal
To build a Rube Goldberg Machine for less than $100, using 7 different principles we learned in class.
Design
This Rube Goldberg Machine starts with a ball drop and ended with a holographic video playing.
Final Product
Click on the picture for more information on how this machine works.
It starts with a ball drop (1). The ball lands into a cup attached to a car (2) causing the car to accelerate forward. As the car accelerates, it hits another ball (3). This ball passes it's momentum up a hill through progressively smaller balls. The last ball hits a pendulum (4). The pendulum uses wave resonance to transfer its motion to another pendulum (5) while also hitting a metal ball (6). This ball will await for a magnetic force. The second, resonance pendulum will hit another ball (7).
This other ball (7) will uncover a solar panel car (8). This car has a home made electromagnet in a parallel circuit with the car's motor. The metal ball (6) will be picked up by the electromagnet. The car will eventually move under some shade and drop the ball onto a button (9) playing a video that is reflected as a hologram (10).
It starts with a ball drop (1). The ball lands into a cup attached to a car (2) causing the car to accelerate forward. As the car accelerates, it hits another ball (3). This ball passes it's momentum up a hill through progressively smaller balls. The last ball hits a pendulum (4). The pendulum uses wave resonance to transfer its motion to another pendulum (5) while also hitting a metal ball (6). This ball will await for a magnetic force. The second, resonance pendulum will hit another ball (7).
Description
This machine incorporated 7 different physics principles: projectile motion, Newton's Second Law, conservation of momentum, wave resonance, parallel circuits, electromagnetism, and refraction & interference.
The picture below is the original design of the Rube Goldberg Machine.
The actual construction of the machine required some modifications of this design, but it is nearly identical. The ball drop (1) demonstrates projectile motion. When ball lands into a cup attached to a car (2), it causes the car to accelerate forward exhibiting Newtons Second Law. As the car accelerates, it hits another ball (3) passing it's momentum up a hill through progressively smaller balls (4) displaying the conservation of momentum. The last ball hits a pendulum. The pendulum uses wave resonance to transfer its motion to another pendulum (5). The second pendulum hits two balls. One will fall into a cup to uncover a solar panel car (6). This car has a home made electromagnet in a parallel circuit with the car's motor. The other, metal ball will be picked up by the electromagnet (7) illustrating electromagnetism. The car will eventually move under an awning and drop the metal ball onto a button (8) playing a video that is reflected as a hologram (9) using refraction and interference of light.
While constructing the machine I tested each component to ensure that they worked both individually and together.
Outcome
This project's report ended up being published my high school's academic achievement magazine which is composed of written work and projects that the teachers nominate. You can read the report here.