For our first project in our 2016 Stem class, we were assigned to design and build a Rube Goldberg machine from scratch. The first problem that we faced was trying to figure out what our theme was going to be for the project. We had many choices but in the end we chose to make music our theme. We had to make a simple task as complicated as possible and incorporate the music element into the project so we chose a simple task of ringing a bell. Ringing the bell also represents the music in our project.
The start of our project includes a guitar acting as an inclined slope for a marble to roll down. This inclined slope has a mechanical advantage of one twelfth meaning that for every one centimeter that the ramp went down, it went across the board for twelve centimeters. After the marble exited this slope it fell into a cup which was attached to a pulley. The mechanical advantage of this pulley is one because the string that the cup is suspended from wraps around the pulley one time. The marble the falls onto another inclined plane which leads it into a PVC pipe which represents a flute. After exiting the flute, the marble enters funnel which represents the bell of a trumpet. The ball goes in a winding path down the funnel acting as a screw feature. The length of the entire screwing process in 34 centimeters. The ball then falls onto a slightly angled piece of wood about 12 by 12 centimeters. The ball then rolls and hits a piece of wood attached to a string. The piece of wood swings down and hits another piece of wood starting a domino chain. The potential energy is transferred into kinetic energy through each block into the last on hits a smaller block laying on an inclined slope. This block is propelled by the energy from the domino and knocked into a large marble the is resting on the inclined slope. This marble is sent down the inclined slope where it activates a seesaw like lever. The ball then falls down of of the lever into a cup that is attached to a gear and chain system. The mechanical advantage of this system is one to nine because there are nine rungs of the gear before the chain. When the ball falls into the cup, it converts its energy to push a small pole attached to the gear which the hits another marble that rolls down an inclined slope with a mechanical advantage of one to eight. At the end of the slope are two metal rods suspended by two strings which act as the bells in our project.
This project took a total of fifteen days including three planning days, nine build days, and three decoration/ finalizing days. We presented the project at San Marin high school in front of professional engineers that acted as judges on our projects.
The start of our project includes a guitar acting as an inclined slope for a marble to roll down. This inclined slope has a mechanical advantage of one twelfth meaning that for every one centimeter that the ramp went down, it went across the board for twelve centimeters. After the marble exited this slope it fell into a cup which was attached to a pulley. The mechanical advantage of this pulley is one because the string that the cup is suspended from wraps around the pulley one time. The marble the falls onto another inclined plane which leads it into a PVC pipe which represents a flute. After exiting the flute, the marble enters funnel which represents the bell of a trumpet. The ball goes in a winding path down the funnel acting as a screw feature. The length of the entire screwing process in 34 centimeters. The ball then falls onto a slightly angled piece of wood about 12 by 12 centimeters. The ball then rolls and hits a piece of wood attached to a string. The piece of wood swings down and hits another piece of wood starting a domino chain. The potential energy is transferred into kinetic energy through each block into the last on hits a smaller block laying on an inclined slope. This block is propelled by the energy from the domino and knocked into a large marble the is resting on the inclined slope. This marble is sent down the inclined slope where it activates a seesaw like lever. The ball then falls down of of the lever into a cup that is attached to a gear and chain system. The mechanical advantage of this system is one to nine because there are nine rungs of the gear before the chain. When the ball falls into the cup, it converts its energy to push a small pole attached to the gear which the hits another marble that rolls down an inclined slope with a mechanical advantage of one to eight. At the end of the slope are two metal rods suspended by two strings which act as the bells in our project.
This project took a total of fifteen days including three planning days, nine build days, and three decoration/ finalizing days. We presented the project at San Marin high school in front of professional engineers that acted as judges on our projects.