Rube Goldberg Machine Presentation

Winter Wonderland
By: Derek Dela Cruz, Maddie Cinelli, Izzy Cozier,

and Zach Coleman
Our Rube Goldberg Machine
Our Rube Goldberg machine is a Christmas themed machine featuring a
variety of steps and simple machines. We included multiple types of energy
transfers into the machine. In order to feature our theme, we incorporated a
Christmas train, a Christmas tree, and Christmas lights around the board.
Simple Machines
1) Inclined Plane: The machine features multiple inclined planes around the
machine. When the marble at the top falls, it hits and rolls down a ramp.
2) Wedge: Near the light switch there is a blue marble wedged between the
board and a triangle.
3) Lever: A lever and fulcrum are located after the incline plane, used to move
two marbles at once.
4) Wheel and Axle: The train has wheels.
5) Pulley: A marble falls into a cup on a pulley, lowering the star onto the tree.
Energy Transfers
1) Our first energy transfer is electrical to kinetic, when we activate the train. The
batteries are the electrical energy and the train moving is kinetic energy.
2) The second energy transfer is when the train hits the domino and knocks it
over. It is a kinetic to kinetic energy transfer, because the train is in motion, and
causes the domino to topple.
3) A third energy transfer is potential to kinetic energy. This is when the marble
goes from sitting still to being moving.
4) The final transfer is electrical to light energy. The lights battery is electrical,
and it causes them to light up.
The Ten Steps: Steps 1-3
1) The train is turned on and chugs across the rails at 0.572 m/s.
2) The train pushes a 96.2g domino with 1.029 J of PE past its center of
gravity, causing the domino to topple.
3) The domino takes 0.39s to hit a 19.2g marble at rest with 0.2055 J of
PE, causing it to fall 0.2032m with a velocity of 0.58 m/s and 0.0032 J of
KE.
4) The marble rolls down two ramps, one with an ideal MA of 1.84 and
another with an ideal MA of 8.24, then loses velocity due to friction
between two pieces of wood.
5) The marble falls on a tilted lever with an ideal MA of 2.923 and falls in
the opposite direction.
6) The lever unhinges a 17g marble with 0.01 J of PE.

7) The 19.2g marble rolls down two ramps, one with an ideal MA of
4.416 and another with an ideal MA of 7.122 and collides with a 19.3g
marble wedged at rest with 0.9511 J of PE.
8) The 19.3g marble falls 0.13335m at a velocity of 0.66675 m/s and a

KE of 0.00428 J and collides with a 9.8g wood block that turns on the
lights.
9) The 17g marble falls into a pulley with an efficiency of 46.81%.
10) The pulley lowers a star onto the Christmas tree.

The Three Principles of Design
1) Emphasis- We made the Christmas tree stand out the most by wrapping it in
lights and covering it with green paper. It is where both of the final steps occur, so
we wanted people to pay attention to it.
2) Balance- We had an asymmetrical balance. We had more on the right side

and less on the left side.
3) Unity- Everything fits together, because we used mainly the same colored
wood, and it all follows the same theme.
Construction Log: Days 1-3
Day 1- We picked out our piece of wood, after deciding that we wanted an entirely vertical
board. We started by sketching our blueprint onto the board, so it would be easy to see what
step we needed to do next.
Day 2- We stabilized the board by drilling wood blocks onto the bottom of the board. There
are two on either side of the front and one in the middle of the back. The board can now
stand up on its own. We also spent some time experiment with different steps, to find out
what would work and what wouldnt.
Day 3- Today we drilled in the wood planks that the train will be on. Our first three steps are
on that board. We continued to experiment with screw ideas and now fulcrums.
Construction Log: Day 4-6
Day 4- We started working on the screw today, by running multiple test trials. After
attempting to hot glue the screw, we concluded that it wasnt going to work, and came up
with an alternate solution. Zach started working on a different design of screw.
Day 5- Today we drilled in another ramp. We wanted to make it half slanted and half
horizontal, so we cut the board in half with the miter saw. We also continued brainstorming
ideas for the lever.
Day 6- We actually built the lever today, and also started designing the Christmas tree on a
plank of wood. We also drilled in a piece of wood that a marble would rest on. This marble
will be pushed by the moving lever, and will fall into the pulley.
Construction Log: Day 7-8
Day 7- We cut the Christmas tree out and also started designing the star. We drilled in the
ramp the leads to the button that activates the lights. It took a few test tries to be able to
decide where we should secure pieces of wood that control where the marble falls. We came
across a problem with the train. After it hit the dominoes, it would keep going. We needed to
be able to stop or reverse it, so we glued in a ruler that hits the button and pushes it
backwards.
Day 8- The screw didnt work so we had to drill in a ramp instead and start brainstorming
ideas for another simple machine to incorporate in place of the screw. We also started
working on the pulley and positioning the dominoes correctly. We had some trouble with that
because they had to be hit in the exact right spot in order to fall correctly. The train hit the
domino at the bottom, so it would fall backwards instead of forwards. To fix this, we glued a
piece of wood on the top of the train the hits it at the top.
Construction Log: Day 9
Day 9- We put colored paper on the star and christmas tree. We also finished the pulley and
made sure that the weight was balanced on both sides. The star had to be attached to the
bottom of the pulley. We positioned and secured the train tracks correctly and used a wedge
by positioning the marbles differently at the bottom. One marble is wedged using in place
using a piece of wood, and another one knocks it. We added and took out a few dominoes in
order to make the machine more reliable.
Rube Goldberg Machine Blueprint
Video of Rube Goldberg Machine
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Winter Wonderland

By: Derek Dela Cruz, Maddie Cinelli, Izzy Cozier,

6) The lever unhinges a 17g marble with 0.01 J of PE.

8) The 19.3g marble falls 0.13335m at a velocity of 0.66675 m/s and a

9) The 17g marble falls into a pulley with an efficiency of 46.81%.

10) The pulley lowers a star onto the Christmas tree.

2) Balance- We had an asymmetrical balance. We had more on the right side

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