The Inefficient Engine By Adam Lindsey Nick Casamatta Dustin Mount

The Group

Introduction The project’s goal was to lift a 1 kilogram mass to a height of 1 meter. The “engine” is made mostly of parts the group had at home or from scraps. Few items actually needed to be purchased

The Machine

Overview We first send a pool ball attached to a piece of string through a PVC pipe. As the ball exits the pipe it pulls with it a piece of wood that was stopping a toy car. The toy car then travels down another PVC pipe and engages a path of dominoes. The dominoes set off a mouse trap which in turn pulls the support out from under a tower that holds our counter-weight. The counter-weight falls thus lifting the mass to the correct height.

Energy Conversions Ball – Gravitational Potential Energy to Kinetic Energy Car – Gravitational Potential Energy to Kinetic Energy Dominoes – Gravitational Potential Energy to Kinetic Energy Mousetrap – Spring Potential Energy to Rotational Kinetic Energy Counter-weight – Gravitational Potential Energy to Kinetic Energy

Conclusion Overall was a fairly simple design incorporating many separate pieces We encountered a few problems such as: – The dominoes fell in a very inconsistent manner – Our counter-weight kept hitting the moving mass