Our Rube Goldberg Machine is called "The Milk Man" because through a series of steps, the end result produces a cup of chocolate milk. Our group consisted of Beau McAndrew, Carina Masters, and Andre Ng. Over the course of fifteen days, we planned, built, calculated formulas, made changes, tweaks, and a new outlook to our project. . During the building process, we were also learning different laws and theories in physics and how to calculate and solve for any calculations needed throughout the process. We drew schematics, used power tools, and pure wits to help create "The MIlk Man."
10 Steps For our project, we had 10 different steps (This can all be found in the power point presentation above for simplified version). Our first step was a pulley system. The pulley had had a mechanical advantage of two because there were two pulleys used. We had 500 grams of weight on both sides and using the pulley, the weight raised up hitting a lever that had a toy car on it. The lever then raised on the side that the weight pushed up and the ball rolled down it. The lever had a mechanical advantage of 2.3 and the car rolled down it at a velocity of 1.22 m/s. After the lever, the car rolled off onto an inclined plane. The inclined plane had a mechanical advantage of 4.5(made the ball go down the ramp easier by a factor of 4.5) and the car rolled at a velocity of 2.3 m/s on the inclined plane. Then, the car hit a lego piece which was holding up another lever at a force of 9.14 N. Then, the lever fell down which had eight marbles on it. This next lever had a mechanical advantage of 1.5. After the marbles came down the lever, a few of them fell through a hole and onto another inclined plane. This next one had a mechanical advantage of 3.86 the marbles then dropped down onto another inclined plane that had two bigger balls and the marbles knocked down the balls and they rolled down the ramp. This second one had a mechanical advantage of 4.6 and the balls rolled down it at a velocity of .36m/s. Then, the balls dropped onto the third inclined plane. The balls dropped down and hit a tennis ball that went down this ramp. This ramp has a mechanical advantage of 4.6. Then, the tennis ball and all the other balls dropped into the cup, which is supported by a pulley system. This pulley system has a mechanical advantage of 1. After, the balls drop into the cup, a wedge is pulled out of the way. The wedge has a mechanical advantage of 1.1. The wedge is keeping a lacrosse ball from rolling down an inclined plane. The ball is connected to another pulley system which has a mechanical advantage of 2. Once the ball gets dropped, the pulley system activates which is connected to a switch. The switch is pulled triggering a motor which turns a screw made of spoons which stirs the chocolate milk.
Reflection The first project this year, I felt, was a success. Through all build days and days we were doing the physics portion, our group really bonded and had a great time building this machine. We got a lot of work done while having a lot of fun. We put in hard work or as we call it, putting in Joules. Building this machine was a great experience and would love to do it again with that group. Mr. Williams taught us all about what was needed and he let us go from there and I can speak for my group by saying we learned a lot through the process.