Build Your Own Rube Goldberg Machine

Introduction

Some of the most ingenious compound machines ever conceived came from the imagination of cartoonist Rube Goldberg, who was famous for devising complex ways of doing simple tasks.  A “Rube Goldberg Machine” is a combination of pulleys, levers, wheels, and other simple machines, which use dozens of steps to complete a job which could normally be done in one or two.

 Rube Goldberg's Moth Exterminator






Start singing. Lady upstairs, when sufficiently annoyed, throws flower pot (A) through awning (B). Hole (C) allows sun to come through and melt cake of ice (D). Water drips into pan (E), running through pipe (F) into pail (G).  Weight of pail causes cord (H) to release hook (I) and allow arrow (J) to shoot into tire (K). Escaping air blows against toy sailboat (L) driving it against lever (M) and causing ball to roll into spoon (N) and pull string (O) which sets off machine gun (P), discharging camphor balls (Q). Report of gun frightens lamb (R) which runs and pulls cord (S), opening closet door (T). As moths (U) fly out to eat wool from lamb's back, they are killed by the barrage of moth balls.

Your assignment is to create a Rube Goldberg Machine which uses no fewer than 4 of the 6 simple machines and has at least 10 steps.  Of course, the more silly and outrageous the steps are, the better!

You will be working in a group with 3 or 4 students, and each member of the group will receive the same grade for the project.   All of the different groups' machines will be connected together to form one giant Super Rube Goldberg Machine which will be presented to the entire school.

So that all the machines can be linked together, your machine must be designed to start when a string is pulled along the floor and end by pulling a string along the floor.  In each case, the string should move a distance of 10 to 20 cm under a tension of 2 to 5 newtons.

Your project should convey the notion of energy and its conservation.  Of course, all Rube Goldberg Machines (and everything else) operates according to the laws of thermodynamics, but your machine should be designed to draw attention to those laws in a palpable way.

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