Rube Goldberg was a cartoonist (NewYork Post) that became famous for drawing very complicated machinesthat performed very simple tasks. A typical Rube Goldberg devicecould not perform a job as straightforward as turning on a faucetwithout the assistance of pulleys, fulcrums, mousetraps, cables,and gears. By the time the cartoonist retired, the term “RubeGoldbergian” had been enshrined in the language to describeanything characterized by excess complexity. For more information,check out the Official Rube Goldberg site.

You will design a Rube-Goldberg Machine that uses multiplesteps to complete a simple task. This will be an assessmentfor this unit. It is due at the end of the energy unit inJanuary. All work is done at home.

2) Written Assignment: You must also include awritten report of your machine describing how it works andidentifying the five simple machines you included. The partsof the written assignment are listed below:

Part 1. Sketch/Explanation of Machine

You must provide a sketch of your machine that shows the step-bystep operation of your machine. Along with the sketch provide awritten explanation of each step. ( A ball rolls down aramp(step 1) and knocks down a block(step 2) which thenfalls over and starts a car rolling(step 3) etc) . You mustlabel each step A, B, C, etc. just like Rube Goldberg did, andprovide an explanation for each step.

Part 2. Simple Machines

A) Label each of the simple machines in yoursketch and write a commentary for each of them. (Example: in step1: we used a ramp which is an inclined plane) You must haveat least 5 different simple machines in yourdesign.

B) You must pick at least twoparts of your machine that are completing work. Youmust describe the work being done and which part of the machine isdoing the work. Give a definition of work.

Part 3: Work/Power and MechanicalAdvantage

Pick at least two parts of your machine andexplain the mechanical advantage; that is, explain how this part ofthe machine decreased the amount of energy needed to do work. How much easier and faster a machine makes your work is themechanical advantage of that machine.

Part 4. Energy

1. What types of energy were used in yourmachine? (thermal energy, light energy, magnetic energy, soundenergy, chemical energy, mechanical energy and electricalenergy). You must name at least two.
2. You must explain at least two energyconversions in each of your machine’s steps. (Forinstance, the ball at the top of a ramp has potential energy. As the ball moves down the ramp the potential energy decreases andthe kinetic energy increases. When the ball hits a block thekinetic energy of the ball was transferred to the block, etc).