In our rube goldberg machine we decided that we would make are theme candy. The first thing that we did was work out are steps from the end to the start. We decided that the end step of the project would be popping a balloons with pop rocks in it into a bowl of soda. I´m not sure how we came up with that idea but everyone in my group agreed on it so that´s what we did. One of the requirement for the project was to have 5 of the 6 simple machines, the 5 simple machines that we used where inclined planes which where all the ramps in the project. We also used a screw and that is the tube that travels in a circle motion. The next machine we used was a lever and that was used to push the ball into the pulley which was are forth simple machine. The last simple machine that we used was a wedge and that was the knife popping the balloon.
Concepts This is my first high school project so there are many new things that I have learned. Force Force is the push or pill on a object. The object will cause a change in motion Work Work is the amount of energy you put into something. Gravitational Potential Energy Energy an object has due to its portion distance to the ground in a gravitational field. Kinetic Energy An objects energy due to motion Velocity The rate of covered distance in a direction Acceleration The change in velocity in a speeding or slowing manner Mechanical Advantage How much easer in other words less force a tool makes something and/or how much further the increased distance you have to push
We used almost all of the concepts listed. In are project we used force because there where a lot off objects moving and using force and work to move them. We also used Potential and Kinetic where used in the rolling items in are project. Are group also incorporated velocity and acceleration into are project because there where many ramps so we wanted to see the changes in the velocities and accelerations as they where effected by friction. Mechanical advantage came up a lot throughout are project because every single ramp, pulley, screw, wedge, and lever had a mechanical advantage of some sort.
As I reflect and think back on this project I like to think of things that I could have done better. One thing I feel like I could have improved on was planning out my project a little bit more and put more thinking towards what I'm attaching on to my project. I can make this better by ovesly thinking more about what I'm doing, but also maybe draw it out a little better and with more detail. One other thing I could have done better is be more open minded and creative. I can improve on this skill by really listening to my group mates, and trying to put there ideas and my ideas into one modification of the both of them. In this project I learned a lot of new things. One thing I felt like I really improved on where my leadership skills, going into this project I thought I would be a follower and do what I was told to do. But in this project I felt like I was saying a lot of my ideas and really taking that lead spot. One other skill I learned throughout this project was realizing what the simple machines in my project where doing and why they where doing them. I really improved on my skills of finding out what calculations would best represent what was happing, and the measurements and equations I needed to show that. All in all this was a really fun project and I still know I have a lot to improve on, good thing this is my first high school project!