Rube-goldberg machine

by Becca Oblites, Brigid OBrien, Andrew Rice, and

Hannah Persky

What is a rube-goldberg machine?

A rube-goldberg machine is a machine that
does a series of complex tasks to accomplish
a simple one. Our simple task is to water a
plant, using complex but fun steps to get the
job done.

1.inclined plane

simple machines used

2. screw
3. levers
4. pulley
5. wedge

Building Log- Day 1

The first day, we started out by coming up

with a schematic and finding a piece of wood
that would be good as a backboard for our
project.

Building log- Day 2

Next, we added a zipline, a
piece of wood to hold a
ball, and a ramp.

Building log- days 3 and 4

On the 3rd and 4th day of building, we added one of our two
levers. Here we ran into some problems. We split some pieces
of wood, and we had some difficulties trying to get a piece
of wood to spin on the board.

Building log- Days 5

and 6
On days 5 and 6, we
accomplished attaching a
funnel and another lever.
Then we added our first ramp
for the ball to come down.

On days 5 and 6, we
accomplished attaching a
funnel and another lever.
Then we added our first
ramp for the ball to come
down.

Building log- days 7 and 8

Days 7 and 8 were our biggest building achievements. We
added on two ramps and our pulley.

Building log- day 9

This was our last building
day, where we added a second
and third funnel, ran some
tubing through the board,
and added a water wheel.

This was our last building

day, where we added a
second and third funnel,
ran some tubing through
the board, and added a
water wheel.

Step 1. zipline acceleration + velocity

Step 2. energy of hitting the ball
Step 3. Ramp 1 Acceleration + velocity
Step 4. Force of ball hitting ramp
Step 5. Ramp 2 acceleration + velocity

Machine steps
Break down the steps

Step 6. Ramp 3 acceleration + velocity

Step 7. Kinetic Energy of Ball htting the cup of
water
Step 8. Force of lever hitting lever
Step 9: Mechanical Advantage of pulley
Step 10: How much the weight pulls in relation
to the block
Step 11: Ramp 4 acceleration + velocity
Step 12: Kinetic Energy of call2 hitting cup of
water

Calculations
The science behind our
machine explained by math.

Energy transfers
The energy transfers are where energy changes from
potential to kinetic.

Red- potential energy

Blue- kinetic energy

Trial and error

Challenges we faced

Some challenges we faced throughout the project:

Trying to get our backboard to stand up at an angle while being fully

supported
How to get our zipline to work consistently
Figuring out how to attach a funnel at an angle
Trying to get the levers to tilt on their own
Fnding the perfect slopes for our ramps.
How to get the water-levers to pour into the funnel each time
How to keep the screw and funnel attatched
How to prevent balls from getting caught in the funnel
How to minimize water spillage.

Schematic 1
To successfully complete
this project, we needed a
plan to follow. This is the
original version of our
machine.

Schematic 2
Like any good project, there
were some revisions. We
changed around our ideas
until we got our final
schematic.

In conclusion...
Wrapping up the project.

Our project was a real

success, as well as
extremely fun to build. We
learned a lot about
physics and its real
world applications.