Who is Reuben Lucius Goldberg?
Reuben Goldberg was born on July 4,1883 in San Francisco, California. Throughout his life Reuben had many occupations including cartoonist, engineer, and journalist. Though he was a multifaceted, interesting man with many talents, he was most famous for the invention of the Rube Goldberg Machine.
Our Project Needs
Over the past two weeks my fellow classmates and I dove into the fun, inspiring and complex world of Rube Goldberg Machines. The exploration and construction was both fun and tricky. We had to create an original machine which had specific guidelines and had to include the following:
FIVE SIMPLE MACHINES, TEN STEPS, 4 ENERGY TRANSFERS, AND TO LOOK CLEAN, HIGH QUALITY AND PRESENTABLE.
FIVE SIMPLE MACHINES, TEN STEPS, 4 ENERGY TRANSFERS, AND TO LOOK CLEAN, HIGH QUALITY AND PRESENTABLE.
Five Simple Machines
Our wheel and axel came from a car.
Our pulley was made out of a wheel axel and popsicle sticks.
We had several inclined planes.
Our wedge was a piece of wood that prevented the pin ball from moving.
Our lever made the transition from the marbles to the golf ball.
The Ten Steps
1.Pull the string.
2.String pulls out ledge.
3.Pinball rolls down inclined plane.
4.Pinball roles into marble.
5.Marble and pinball fall into pulley system.
6.Pulley drops down.
7.Pulley hits golfball.
8.Golfball roles down inclined plane.
9.Golball hits lever
10.Lever moves other golfball.
11.Other golfball roles down inclined plain.
12.Golfball hits Lego man.
13.Lego man goes down zip line.
14.Lego man hits toy car.
15.Car pulls string.
16.Mentos drop in a cup of Coca Cola.
17.Coca Cola shoots out of bottle into a cup.
2.String pulls out ledge.
3.Pinball rolls down inclined plane.
4.Pinball roles into marble.
5.Marble and pinball fall into pulley system.
6.Pulley drops down.
7.Pulley hits golfball.
8.Golfball roles down inclined plane.
9.Golball hits lever
10.Lever moves other golfball.
11.Other golfball roles down inclined plain.
12.Golfball hits Lego man.
13.Lego man goes down zip line.
14.Lego man hits toy car.
15.Car pulls string.
16.Mentos drop in a cup of Coca Cola.
17.Coca Cola shoots out of bottle into a cup.
Four Energy Transfers
1.From the pinball to the marble.
2.From the golfball to the lever and the lever to the golfball.
3.From the golfball to the Lego man.
4.From the Lego to the car.
2.From the golfball to the lever and the lever to the golfball.
3.From the golfball to the Lego man.
4.From the Lego to the car.
Physics Concepts
The major purpose of our Rube Goldberg machine was to observe basic principles of Newtonian physics. Classical physics asserts that energy is neither created nor destroyed (conservation of energy) but only changes form. In our Rube Goldberg we were able to see potential energy convert into kinetic energy. We started by lifting the object unto a platform and watched as it accelerated along various inclined planes.
We started with a marble at the top of the first incline plane. Had we dropped the marble directly onto the ground, at a pure vertical slope, it would have accelerated toward the ground at 9.8 meters per second squared and would have reached a velocity V=gt.
The inclined planes were not at 90 degree angles, however, and this slowed the acceleration of the marble and the rate at which potential energy was converted to kinetic energy. Additionally, the mabel was slowed by impact with other objects. As Newton says, as an object collides with another object, in an elastic collision, the first object will transfer energy to the second object.
Our marble collided with a golf ball of larger mass and as a result bounced back from the collision. Some of the kinetic energy which had been generated by the force of gravity acting on the marble was dissipated/transferred into heat and sound as a result of the collision, but most of the energy was transferred to the golf ball which then started to roll down another incline plane. The combination of the initial transfer of energy to the golf ball and the force of gravity pulling on it, caused it to produce more and more kinetic energy as it moved down the inclined plane. As Newton stated, an object in motion in motion stays in motion (maintains its inertia) unless acted upon by another body. In our case, the marble was acted upon by the golf ball and therefore lost its inertia.
There were other interesting physics observation we were able to make as we watched the marble and the golf ball collide. First we observed the force generated by the marble increase. The force of the marble increased as it accelerated (F=ma). Then it collided with the golf ball. We noticed that when it hit the golf ball that there was not an equal and opposite reaction as the marble did not come to a complete stop and as the golf ball started to move. We were able to imagine a whole bunch of Force vectors shooting out from the point of impact between the two bodies in all directions...almost like watching flames and light fan out from the center of a fire cracker explosion on a dark and cool new years night.
Both the marble and the golf ball lost a non-negligble amount of energy to friction as a result of their constant contact with the wood planes on which they were rolling.
Another objective of our assignment was to understand engineering concepts and how different devices can be used to manipulate energy. Varying the angles of the inclined planes and inserting levers and obstacles in the way of the objects, allowed us to control the amount of kinetic energy and the amount of force and work being done at various stages of our Rube Goldberg. In our case there was no added energy other than the energy we used to initially lift the objects into place. After that, gravity did all the work (pun intended). This made us think of how similar principles were used by the Romans to carry water, with aqueducts ,across the cities they built in their empire. They were using principles of physics, and engineering water solutions, even if they didn't have the same terminology for it as we do today.
We started with a marble at the top of the first incline plane. Had we dropped the marble directly onto the ground, at a pure vertical slope, it would have accelerated toward the ground at 9.8 meters per second squared and would have reached a velocity V=gt.
The inclined planes were not at 90 degree angles, however, and this slowed the acceleration of the marble and the rate at which potential energy was converted to kinetic energy. Additionally, the mabel was slowed by impact with other objects. As Newton says, as an object collides with another object, in an elastic collision, the first object will transfer energy to the second object.
Our marble collided with a golf ball of larger mass and as a result bounced back from the collision. Some of the kinetic energy which had been generated by the force of gravity acting on the marble was dissipated/transferred into heat and sound as a result of the collision, but most of the energy was transferred to the golf ball which then started to roll down another incline plane. The combination of the initial transfer of energy to the golf ball and the force of gravity pulling on it, caused it to produce more and more kinetic energy as it moved down the inclined plane. As Newton stated, an object in motion in motion stays in motion (maintains its inertia) unless acted upon by another body. In our case, the marble was acted upon by the golf ball and therefore lost its inertia.
There were other interesting physics observation we were able to make as we watched the marble and the golf ball collide. First we observed the force generated by the marble increase. The force of the marble increased as it accelerated (F=ma). Then it collided with the golf ball. We noticed that when it hit the golf ball that there was not an equal and opposite reaction as the marble did not come to a complete stop and as the golf ball started to move. We were able to imagine a whole bunch of Force vectors shooting out from the point of impact between the two bodies in all directions...almost like watching flames and light fan out from the center of a fire cracker explosion on a dark and cool new years night.
Both the marble and the golf ball lost a non-negligble amount of energy to friction as a result of their constant contact with the wood planes on which they were rolling.
Another objective of our assignment was to understand engineering concepts and how different devices can be used to manipulate energy. Varying the angles of the inclined planes and inserting levers and obstacles in the way of the objects, allowed us to control the amount of kinetic energy and the amount of force and work being done at various stages of our Rube Goldberg. In our case there was no added energy other than the energy we used to initially lift the objects into place. After that, gravity did all the work (pun intended). This made us think of how similar principles were used by the Romans to carry water, with aqueducts ,across the cities they built in their empire. They were using principles of physics, and engineering water solutions, even if they didn't have the same terminology for it as we do today.
Reflection
Several things didn't go well for us on the project. Our funnel - which was supposed to channel our marble down its dead drop toward the golf ball - did not actually control the direction of the marble as intended and sometimes our marble would miss the golf ball. We build out own pulley and could not figure out the proper counter balance. Despite these engineering mistakes, we also had some engineering successes. For example, we were able to successfully engineer a pivot that let one golf ball send another golf ball rolling down our incline plane. We were also able to achieve the main goal of the Rube Goldberg, we got energy moved from the top of the device to the bottom, despite all the complicated intermediate steps.
Over the course of this project I have learned many things. I learned to collaborate with my classmates and specifically with my group, while problem solving with mechanical oriented things. I feel most enriched by the improvement I feel we achieved as a group working together. Having experienced issues with our Rube Goldberg Machine, I believe that we would have made a few changes to make the outcome more successful, for example: we would add another popsicle stick attached to two others, diagonally, so the string on our pulley would not fall off.
Prior to building the Rube Goldberg, I did not see the world around me in terms of physics concepts. Now when I see a car come to a stop, I imagine the work being done by the brakes, the heat being created, the deceleration of the object, the Force being transferred. ...When I kick my soccer ball, I imagine myself building up potential energy, converting it to kinetic energy and then transferring that energy into the ball at the point of impact. I even feel strange feeling of mystery when pondering the fact that the ball, being round, has the potential to be kicked in so many different places and imagine how it might react to different impacts. I guess what I am trying to say is that what seemed like strange theoretical ideas only a few months ago, are now connected to tangible objects and experiences all around me. Its the first time in my life that I feel like I am thinking and experiencing all at the same time.
Even though we ran into some hardship along the way, our over all project was a success and great fun and I feel very privileged to have had the opportunity to create an amazing project with such a great group of people.
Over the course of this project I have learned many things. I learned to collaborate with my classmates and specifically with my group, while problem solving with mechanical oriented things. I feel most enriched by the improvement I feel we achieved as a group working together. Having experienced issues with our Rube Goldberg Machine, I believe that we would have made a few changes to make the outcome more successful, for example: we would add another popsicle stick attached to two others, diagonally, so the string on our pulley would not fall off.
Prior to building the Rube Goldberg, I did not see the world around me in terms of physics concepts. Now when I see a car come to a stop, I imagine the work being done by the brakes, the heat being created, the deceleration of the object, the Force being transferred. ...When I kick my soccer ball, I imagine myself building up potential energy, converting it to kinetic energy and then transferring that energy into the ball at the point of impact. I even feel strange feeling of mystery when pondering the fact that the ball, being round, has the potential to be kicked in so many different places and imagine how it might react to different impacts. I guess what I am trying to say is that what seemed like strange theoretical ideas only a few months ago, are now connected to tangible objects and experiences all around me. Its the first time in my life that I feel like I am thinking and experiencing all at the same time.
Even though we ran into some hardship along the way, our over all project was a success and great fun and I feel very privileged to have had the opportunity to create an amazing project with such a great group of people.