The Happy Gilmore Celebration by Bryan Hunter, Zack Watts, and Jonathan Kahler

the team. Jonathan, straight up gangsta Zack, lil’ balla Bryan, big balla Zack’s totally ballin’, super expensive High Def. TV

the device. Basically the most brilliant/awesome/ballin’ mechanism ever devised by man, the Happy Gilmore Celebration is a compilation of mostly-random items built to accomplish the simple task of making a golf ball into a hole and popping a confetti-filled balloon in worldwide celebration.

step one. The first golf ball is dropped onto a series of Duck tape/cardboard ramps that make a full revolution around the shoe rack box/main support structure. After completing one revolution on the ramps, the ball falls through a hole at the end of the fifth ramp and lands in a cardboard tube. ramp cardboard tube U Grav → KE + E Loss

step two. The golf ball rolls down the tube and strikes another golf ball held in place at the end of the tube by static friction with the walls of the tube. Energy is transferred to the second ball, which falls into a Styrofoam cup being held in equilibrium by a string, and the first ball is stopped at the end of the tube by the opposing force of the collision and the friction that was holding the other ball in place. cardboard tube cup KE + U Grav → KE + E Loss

step two, cont. The ball lands in the bottom of the cup, applying a downward force to the string and causing the cup and ball to be pulled down. The string runs over one pulley, under another, and over two more where it is attached to a hinged lever. As the cup is pulled down, the downward vertical force is transferred through the string to the hinged lever, creating a force that pulls the lever upward. pulleys

step three. The lever strikes a domino with enough force to knock it over. That domino strikes two others, branching into two separate domino paths of destruction. All of the dominos are attached to the box with Duck tape on one side, which makes them easy to reset. The Duck tape, however, does not affect the dominos significantly. pulleys hinge dominos lever KE → KE + E Loss

step four, a. and b. plan view At the end of each path, a domino strikes a golf ball. Both collisions are elastic. Golf ball A is placed at the top of a foam ramp. Golf ball B is placed at the opening of a tube made out of rolled up posters. tube A B foam ramp A. KE + U Grav → KE + E Loss B. KE + U Grav → KE + E Loss

step five, a. Ball A is pushed by the domino down a modified foam ramp, at the end of which lies our trusty roll of Duck tape. This is our Happy Gilmore hole-in-one. hole! foam ramp KE → E Loss Who’s that guy?

step five, b. Ball B is pushed by the domino into a rolled-up- poster tube, at the end of which lies a hinged lever. On the top of the lever, a Dixie cup catches the ball as it leaves the tube, and the force of the ball hitting the cup causes it to rotate about the hinge. As the lever rotates, the lower end of the lever pushes a golf ball sitting at the top of another foam ramp. Dixie cup hingeleverfoam ramp poster tube KE + U Grav → KE + E Loss

step six. For the final step of our amazing golf ball thingy, the golf ball is propelled down a foam ramp where it hits another lever, this time tipped with our nifty Xacto blade. The blade pops the balloon, celebrating Happy’s hole-in-one by releasing confetti into the atmosphere and filling the room with jubilation. leverXacto blade Duck tape hinge balloon Watts confetti! KE → E Loss

hooray! It worked! (at least, our grades hope so.) Now we can be happy and join hands in mad- crazy celebration. The golf ball is where it belongs, confetti is everywhere, and the world is a much better place. Mr. Super Monkey Ball gives us an A!

fin. happy. ecstatic. brimming with jubilation.