Constructing a Rube Goldberg Machine
Rube Goldberg Machine
I made a Rube Goldberg Machine and recorded data to see how well and efficient it worked. My hypothesis was with my limited materials I feel my Rube Goldberg machine will be very efficient and and will be a well working machine. I made a Rube Goldberg Machine because I have always loved how they work and how they make life much easier in a cooler and fun way. I have always seen videos but have never created one so I thought no would be my chance to give it a shot.
To make this Machine I had to first sketch it out. Then put my plan into action. The marble will drop from the top of my machine. The marble will then go down 2 ramps and go through a tunnel. At the end of the tunnel are some dominos. The impact from the marble with knock down the dominos which will cause of them to fall and hit another marble. The second marble will then go down another tunnel and fall into a pulley system. The marble with put enough weight in the cup to pull it down and cause the other cup to come up. Once the cup reaches the top it will then knock down another set of dominos which will hit another marble. That marble will roll down a few ramps then hit a toy car. The collision from the marble and the car will cause the car to go downhill on a ramp and then force from the car will knock a heavy cup of an edge and will pull a cup out from underneath of it and drop another ball into a tunnel. The last marble will go down some ramps hit another toy car and then knock another heavy cup of a ledge and the weight from the one cup will pull from underneath the cup with the dog food which will pour the dogs food into its bowl.
I have collected a lot data and overall it was very efficient and accurate. My results started on the bad side and then fixing some minor tweaks they started to get better little by little. For example, sometimes the machine would fall apart or I would have to fix little details. One thing I had to fix is when the wall was not fully made and the marble would go right through it. I tested my machine with how long it took each time I fixed something little in the machine. None of my results were over 8.4 seconds. My results ranged at 6.6-8.4 seconds. If my machine was slow I would try to find tiny things to fix in it. Overall I think my tests were very good.
In conclusion my data was very accurate and it was recorded a numerous amount of times. I have learned that it is not very easy to create and make things. I learned that it takes time and you need a lot of patients which I don’t have a lot of but I got through it. My hypothesis was correct because I predicted that my machine would work very well and pour food for my dog and it did. One thing I could have improved in this experiment is using different materials. Overall I really liked the experiment and enjoyed doing it.
Graph Hypothesis
With my limited materials I feel my Rube Goldberg machine will be
very efficient and will be a well working machine.
Problem
The problem my Rube Goldberg machine will
solve is pouring dog food into a dog bowl and feeding my dog.
Procedure
1. The first level a marble will drop down 2 down slanted cardboard ramps.
2. Then the marble will go down a cardboard tunnel.
3. At the end of the tunnel the marble will hit go down more sets of ramps.
4. The marble will then roll down to the bottom of the ramps.
5. Once the marble hits the bottom it will then hit a cup of a ledge pulling the cup of dog food from underneath of it.
6. When the dog food is poured it will be funneled into the bowl carefully so that no dog food spills out.
Materials
Cardboard
Dominos
Marble
Plastic cup
String
Toy car
Dog Bowl
Dog Food
Conclusion
All in all I had a great time creating and designing this machine. My data was accurate and very efficient. My hypothesis was corrected, it stated, I feel my Rube Goldberg machine will be very efficient and will be a well working machine. My machine did turn out to be a success and was very efficient.