EF 151 Final Project “The Finger Breaker” Team Members Justin Grundt Thomas Frederick Chris Holmes

Description Our Rube Goldberg device incorporates numerous physics concepts (using mouse traps, a Newton’s Cradle, a funnel with tubing, and gravity powered ramps) in an extremely inefficient manner to simply display a University of Tennessee banner via a novelty “bang” gun.

Overview of the Device Mouse trap activates spring arm, which projects marble down the funnel Marble travels down the tubing and activates switches that release other marbles and a golf ball Golf ball moves a lever releasing first ball of the Newton’s Cradle Last ball of the Newton’s Cradle triggers another mouse trap Fishing line attached to the mouse trap activates the toy gun, which concludes the device’s operation by displaying the banner

Elements of Physics Elastic Potential Energy to Kinetic Energy Projectile Motion Gravitational Potential Energy to Kinetic Energy Perfectly Elastic Collisions Center of Mass

Construction Issues Device triggering too early Constructing a device to fit within given dimensions according to our design Precision required to build the Newton’s Cradle Setting time slots to build the device amid busy schedules Avoiding broken fingers from the $#*!@% mouse traps

Conclusion The Rube Goldberg project was an interesting way to physically display the knowledge gained throughout the semester. Working together as a team allowed each member an alternate perspective to problem solving and opened up a door to a higher sense of ingenuity.