Rube Goldberg Project
About 2 months ago, we were tasked to create a rube goldberg machine. A rube goldberg machine is a contraption that completes a simple task in the most complicated steps possible. At the beginning of this project many of us didn’t know much about rube goldberg machines, so we first researched and watched many successful machines to get the jist of it. We then were given constraints for things like size and the number of steps that were required. After that, we learned about the different concepts of physics that would be incorporated in the rube.
I’m not going to lie, our rube was pretty frustrating to build. After we had the basic first steps written in our first draft, we had no idea how hard it was going to be to make these steps work. We then created the theme; Christmas. The task our rube was going to complete was making hot chocolate. After taking much longer than needed to decorate, we started working on the actual steps. The first two steps were the hardest to figure out. It took us an unnecessary amount of time to get these steps to work, and they still didn’t completely work until the day of exhibition. ( We are convinced this is because there was a curse on our rube , and this curse wasn’t lifted until the first day of christmas season, aka December 1st, aka the day of exhibition.) In the end, we were extremely pleased with how it turned out, and we are just thankful it worked a exhibition.
I think the most important concept for the success of our rube is conservation of momentum. For each step to work successfully the last step had to have enough momentum to hit or trigger the next step with enough force.
I learned many hands-on skills while completing this project. I learned how to use a lot large variety of hardware tools. (although I’m not very good at using them safely, hence the deep cut in my finger and the large burn on my hand) Another thing I learned is that hot glue will not solve all my problems, and I will probably have to drill a screw to whatever I was using the hot glue for.
Like I said earlier, the first 2 steps were the hardest to complete. The hardest of the two steps was getting the ball to fall into the cup to trigger the pulley. This step took a very long time, and still didn't work completely until the day of exhibition.
I’m not going to lie, our rube was pretty frustrating to build. After we had the basic first steps written in our first draft, we had no idea how hard it was going to be to make these steps work. We then created the theme; Christmas. The task our rube was going to complete was making hot chocolate. After taking much longer than needed to decorate, we started working on the actual steps. The first two steps were the hardest to figure out. It took us an unnecessary amount of time to get these steps to work, and they still didn’t completely work until the day of exhibition. ( We are convinced this is because there was a curse on our rube , and this curse wasn’t lifted until the first day of christmas season, aka December 1st, aka the day of exhibition.) In the end, we were extremely pleased with how it turned out, and we are just thankful it worked a exhibition.
I think the most important concept for the success of our rube is conservation of momentum. For each step to work successfully the last step had to have enough momentum to hit or trigger the next step with enough force.
I learned many hands-on skills while completing this project. I learned how to use a lot large variety of hardware tools. (although I’m not very good at using them safely, hence the deep cut in my finger and the large burn on my hand) Another thing I learned is that hot glue will not solve all my problems, and I will probably have to drill a screw to whatever I was using the hot glue for.
Like I said earlier, the first 2 steps were the hardest to complete. The hardest of the two steps was getting the ball to fall into the cup to trigger the pulley. This step took a very long time, and still didn't work completely until the day of exhibition.
Life in the Cold Lab
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Our life in the cold lab was to figure out which material in fire starters would be the most effective. We wanted to know this so we would be prepared in the backcountry. While Brian wanted us to thrive in cold weather, the main goal of this lab was to teach us how to create a scientific question, and form an experiment out of it.
I thought I was a good group member. Not only did I bring in the materials (I was the materials manager), but I was also the team managers so I helped the experiment run smoothly. I also did a good bit of research with help of the research manager. |