This project was our first big project of our STEM Marin year. For our project, we had to plan, build, and present a Rube Goldberg machine, a complicated machine to do a simple task, in front of a few judges. We started with three "planning" days to come up with and create our initial schematic. After this, we had nine "build" days to construct and finesse our machine. Finally, we had three "presentation" days to create a way to present our project in front of our class and a set of judges.
Our group, consisting of Justin Keizer, Nathan Luis, Isabella Madison, and I (James Martinez), took these days to build our own Rube Goldberg Machine. For our project, we started coming up with an initial schematic for our project. This schematic was used for our initial build, but over time we had to change our schematic, due to technical issues, to our final schematic(found below).
Concepts Throughout our project, we had to use many physics concepts to explain how our project works. Here's a list of these concepts.
Velocity: The rate of covered distance in a direction. This was used for finding out how fast our ball was going in a distance over a certain period of time such as on our ramps. Equation: Velocity= Change in distance/ Change in time Acceleration: The rate of change of velocity. This was used along with velocity in the same places. but can also be combined with other concepts such as force. Equation: Acceleration= Change in velocity/ Change in time Force: A push or pull on an object. A force causes a change in momentum. This was used to find the push/pull of our ball. Equation: Force= Mass x Acceleration Momentum: Tendency of moving objects to keep moving. This could be used to find our balls momentum down a ramp. Equation: Momentum= Mass x Velocity Work: Amount of energy put into something. This could be used to find the amount of energy put into the newtons cradle in our project. Equation: Work= Force x Distance Potential Energy: Energy an object has due to its height and position in a gravitational field. This could be used to find out how much energy a ball has before going down a ramp. Equation: Mass x Acceleration due to gravity x Height Kinetic Energy: Energy due to motion. This could be used to find the energy a ball has gained bu the bottom of a ramp. Equation: 1/2 x Mass x Velocity Squared Mechanical Advantage: How much easier a tool makes something. This could be used to find how much less force it takes for a ball to be pushed up a ramp. Equation: F with machine/ F without machine
Our project in action
Reflection Throughout our project, I learned a few things about our group and myself. I learned that our group seemed to work twice as hard when one person was not as school. But then, when everyone was here, we barely worked at all. This caused us to get our project done right before the required time. Two of the people in our group also had to tell everyone what to do. This caused our group to be all focused on one idea, therefore making it take longer to complete our project.
Other than these bad things, we also had a few good things happen. I learned that our group seems to work really well together and can deal with how we work. Besides this, I learned that I could really work well with a lot of people in our group as well as other people. I also learned that I really need to work on my communication between group members as I usually forgot to do this.
Finally, I learned about what I could improve upon in my next project. I feel that I could be more of a group leader in my group as shown in this project how we only had two leaders. I also learned that I need to learn how my group works together and use that to my advantage in how I take my leadership. Finally, I need to cooperate with my group better, which includes better communication with them.