Simple May be Better, But Not as Much Fun!
by Louis Vieselmeyer
June 06, 2008
Axtell High School Physics Class Builds Rube Goldberg Machines
For those of you unfamiliar with Rube Goldberg let me give you a quick history of the man. He was a mechanical engineer who used his training in physics to draw a syndicated cartoon in the newspapers a few years back. His cartoons always involved the completion of a simple task using a complicated array of gadgets and machines to perform the task. Every year colleges and universities hold Rube Goldberg competitions to see who can build the most complicated machine.
While studying work and energy changes, I have my students decide on a simple task they wish to incorporate into their machine and try to build the most complicated apparatus they can to get the job done using materials available in the class room or what they can bring from home. (Basically junk room science).
This year the four tasks the students came up with were turning on and shutting off a water pump, popping a balloon, squeezing toothpaste from the tube onto a brush, and blowing an air horn.
The following slideshow is from the open
house. Enjoy!
Science Tech Machines
