Over the past month, our physics class has been working on the Rube Goldberg project. Rube Goldberg was an artist who drew machines that consisted of steps that make something or perform a task. My group members Grace and Gabe and I, worked together to make a rube that made a bowl of Oreo Cereal. We had to include at least 15 steps, 5 of which were simple machines and ran for a minimum of 15 seconds. Each step triggered another step and formed a chain reaction. In addition to making the actual rube, we had to make a virtual 3D display of our rube on a program called Sketch-Up and do the calculations like conservation of momentum or kinetic energy found on the steps in our rube. The performance of our rube at the exhibition was disappointing. Our hard work and creativity was apparent however, the steps didn't quite work as we had planned. This was an awesome hands on project and every aspect around the rube consisted of physics and calculations. I really enjoyed this project!
Click here to see calculations
Click here to see calculations