The process of building the Rube Goldberg Machine has been both difficult and complicated and it requires a lot of concentration, collaboration and flexibility. All of this is worth it because the pride and splendid feeling you get when you look at your final project it so amazing (as so I’ve been told). Every fail in the machine is a learning experience. We take our time on each step to make sure it is working properly and correctly. Some stuff we experienced was how the ball kept from falling outside of the course. To prevent that from happening we decided to put cardboard on the sides of the course so they ball has no way to escape. But if it tries to, it would bounce off the cardboard and back onto the course. This showed us that if if we mess up, we just have to get right back to work and try different ideas until finally, one works. Nothing will stop the fearless engineers!
Teamwork is definitely one of the most essential parts of a successful chain reaction/project. If my group did not get along, we would not be able to create a working Rube Goldberg Machine.
Some of the troubles and fails we had at the beginning of the course were hard to fix but eventually we got the work done. To start, at the beginning, the ball going down the ramp didn’t have enough force to knock down the domino creation. This is an example of mechanical energy because the ball is moving and therefore has energy even though it did not have enough force to knock down the domino’s. My groups decision was to get a steeper ramp and we also decided to find a way so the ball had more time to speed up. We did this by putting the ramp a little farther away from the domino’s. This was our first problem and it really showed us that if we try hard we can accomplish anything. Anyway, also at the beginning, the regular domino’s were to thin and two short to stand up on the cardboard. Juliet, Emily and I decided to use Jenga blocks. They were thicker, taller and such a great material. We watched it work and all we wanted to do was scream, “WOO-HOO!” And that is exactly what we did.
All of the amazing Rube Goldberg project links really inspired my group. We learned so many more steps that we can use in our Rube Goldberg! For example, my group didn’t think of using tubes but we saw it in one of the Rube Goldberg’s online and we decided t use it! If you ever are just sitting at your house on the couch, check out this link!
Click Here!Overall, Rube Goldberg has been such an amazing experience. And just remember you can accomplish anything if you set your mind to it.