The Party Machine!
The Explanation
For my first project for Stem Marin I had to work with a team to build a Rube Goldberg Machine. It took us about a month, but me and my team Created a Rube Goldberg we named “The Party Machine. A Rube Goldberg Machine is a contraption that goes through intricate steps in order to do a simple task ie: pour dog food in a bowl, peel an apple, or in this case, release balloons in the air.
In order to understand what we built, I need to explain the concepts we learned. So the first concept is force. Force is measured with the equation F=Ma, where “M” stands for mass and “a” stands for acceleration. We also learned about the rate at which the earth accelerates objects towards it (9.8㎨) and we also learned about potential energy kinetic, energy and mechanical advantage. Potential energy is the amount of energy an object could produce due to gravity, and Kinetic energy is energy due to motion. Mechanical advantage is the measurement of how much easier (less force) a tool makes something, or how much further you need to push with a tool.
The Machine itself has 16 steps, with the final being that the balloons are released. First, the Present is pulled up, which allows Toy car rolls down orange ramp. The car triggers the birthday hat pulley which pulls the wedge up. With the wedge gone, the bouncy ball runs down yellow ramp. The bouncy ball hits the lever then runs down the green ramp. The ball then rolls along the birthday cake wheel. The Bouncy ball will eventually hit the steel ball. The Steel ball drops down the pipe. The Steel ball then rolls down the short ramp. The Steel Ball hits the dominoes which knock down the weight. The Weight falls onto the wheel and makes it spin. The Weight falls down the incline and hits the yellow wood block which releases the Balloons!
There were a few changes to the original plans. We wanted to have a party popper pop as well as the balloons, but popping the poppers took too much force, and it would be hard to design a contraption to be able to do that. We also wanted a screw for a marble to go through, but there was not enough space on the board. If I were to do it again, I would have wanted to make it so that the rube Goldberg actually popped a party popper.
This Project was very fun. I learned how to use tools that I have never used before. Although I realized during this project that I'm not a very good leader. I did do a lot (not all, about 40%) of the building and also started on the Google Slide Presentation. I am very proud of myself for being part of a team that build such an awesome building, and I would do it again if I could.
In order to understand what we built, I need to explain the concepts we learned. So the first concept is force. Force is measured with the equation F=Ma, where “M” stands for mass and “a” stands for acceleration. We also learned about the rate at which the earth accelerates objects towards it (9.8㎨) and we also learned about potential energy kinetic, energy and mechanical advantage. Potential energy is the amount of energy an object could produce due to gravity, and Kinetic energy is energy due to motion. Mechanical advantage is the measurement of how much easier (less force) a tool makes something, or how much further you need to push with a tool.
The Machine itself has 16 steps, with the final being that the balloons are released. First, the Present is pulled up, which allows Toy car rolls down orange ramp. The car triggers the birthday hat pulley which pulls the wedge up. With the wedge gone, the bouncy ball runs down yellow ramp. The bouncy ball hits the lever then runs down the green ramp. The ball then rolls along the birthday cake wheel. The Bouncy ball will eventually hit the steel ball. The Steel ball drops down the pipe. The Steel ball then rolls down the short ramp. The Steel Ball hits the dominoes which knock down the weight. The Weight falls onto the wheel and makes it spin. The Weight falls down the incline and hits the yellow wood block which releases the Balloons!
There were a few changes to the original plans. We wanted to have a party popper pop as well as the balloons, but popping the poppers took too much force, and it would be hard to design a contraption to be able to do that. We also wanted a screw for a marble to go through, but there was not enough space on the board. If I were to do it again, I would have wanted to make it so that the rube Goldberg actually popped a party popper.
This Project was very fun. I learned how to use tools that I have never used before. Although I realized during this project that I'm not a very good leader. I did do a lot (not all, about 40%) of the building and also started on the Google Slide Presentation. I am very proud of myself for being part of a team that build such an awesome building, and I would do it again if I could.