Our Rube Goldberg Mechanism Project Hangman Our Rube Goldberg Mechanism

Objectives Our project objective was to drop the bottom out of a gallow that would hang an unfortunate figure of our choice. The device had to go through at least three different energy conversions before finally completing our task.

Lets Get the Ball Rolling! The very first step in our project is to make sure that all parts are properly set up. After that we can set the marble on the ramp and start it rolling. Once the marble goes down the ramp it comes to a rest in a cradle that is attached to a pulley.

The Pulling Process After the ball travels the length of our bi-directional ramp it drops into a cradle which is counter-weighted to the point where the marble provides enough weight to drop the cradle and raise the bottom of the play dough cup. Resting in the play dough cup is a large marble that triggers the next and most interesting process.

The Flood Gates Open Remember that big marble? Well at the very end of the ramp before that marble can come to a rest it must hit a rather large lever. This lever is also counter-weighted and attached to a twenty ounce Dr. Pepper bottle that is filled with water. When the lever is tripped it pulls the bottle over.

Water Water So now we have successfully tipped a full bottle of water. What now? The water that flows out of the bottle goes into a small channel that directs the flow into a container that has a water wheel built in it. The energy the falling water produces is harnessed by the water wheel and lifts an elevator containing bb’s.

It All Comes Down to a BB As the elevator lifts the bb’s up it also tips the elevator over. This action pours the 5-7 bb’s out on to a track. Once the bb’s are on the track they begin rolling. Resting peacefully at the end of the track is a washer. Once our little bb’s hits this washer it knocks it off the track.

The Floor Falls out. So now the washer is falling down to a specially built mousetrap. What makes this mouse trap so special? Well there is a cradle on the mousetrap that is built to catch our washer. The weight of the washer is enough to set off our mouse trap and yank a string that pulls the floor out from under our unfortunate figure.

Costs Our group can honestly claim that we did not spend over 50 cents on the entire project. The vast majority of the material came from my (Alex Wallis) dorm room. The project breaks down into three main pieces and takes less than thirty seconds to fully assemble. The costliest part of the project was the mouse trap that pulls the floor out of the gallow.

Summary It starts with a marble rolling down a ramp It ends with the death of a figure Water power is harnessed in the form of a water wheel. It contains at least 5 different energy transfers