INDEX
IMPORTANT TERMS
Rube Goldberg Machine: In the 1920's and the 1930's a famous cartoonist named Rube Goldberg sketched a series of cartoons each involving an outrageous but theoretically possible machine. These machines involved a series of consecutive steps used to perform some sort of task. A Rube Goldberg machine is a real machine which, as in Goldberg's cartoons, uses a series of consecutive steps. These machines usually perform some simple task.
Mechanical Advantage: Work is calculated by multiplying force by distance. When you decrease the distance over which work is done with a simple machine, the force is multiplied. Mechanical advantage is a measure of how much a simple machine multiples force, expressed as a ratio of output force divided by input force.
Kinetic Energy: Kinetic energy is the energy of motion. Kinetic Energy is calculated by 0.5 multiplied by mass multiplied by velocity squared. In our Rube Goldberg project, the kinetic energy of the toy car (motion of rolling down the ramp) is transferred to the dominoes.
Potential Energy: Potential energy is the energy of mass and position. You can calculate the potential energy of an object by multiplying its mass the acceleration of gravity by its height above the ground. In our Rube Goldberg project, the marbles hold potential energy when they held up in the box.
Rube Goldberg Machine: In the 1920's and the 1930's a famous cartoonist named Rube Goldberg sketched a series of cartoons each involving an outrageous but theoretically possible machine. These machines involved a series of consecutive steps used to perform some sort of task. A Rube Goldberg machine is a real machine which, as in Goldberg's cartoons, uses a series of consecutive steps. These machines usually perform some simple task.
Mechanical Advantage: Work is calculated by multiplying force by distance. When you decrease the distance over which work is done with a simple machine, the force is multiplied. Mechanical advantage is a measure of how much a simple machine multiples force, expressed as a ratio of output force divided by input force.
Kinetic Energy: Kinetic energy is the energy of motion. Kinetic Energy is calculated by 0.5 multiplied by mass multiplied by velocity squared. In our Rube Goldberg project, the kinetic energy of the toy car (motion of rolling down the ramp) is transferred to the dominoes.
Potential Energy: Potential energy is the energy of mass and position. You can calculate the potential energy of an object by multiplying its mass the acceleration of gravity by its height above the ground. In our Rube Goldberg project, the marbles hold potential energy when they held up in the box.