Science Fair Research Paper
Many people have disabilities. Some involve their faces, personalities, and their bodies. These disabilities can cause restrictions to many people’s lives. Such disabilities can affect the way people function day to day. These restrictions can involve their fine motor skills whether it’s opening a door or writing a name. Hundreds of disabled individuals cannot even flick on a light switch without a service aid. That’s why certain contraptions were built to make these humans lives easier, like a Rube Goldberg machine. What even is a Rube Goldberg machine? A Rube Goldberg machine is the name given to any mechanical system that is elaborate and complex and used to perform simple tasks. The Rube Goldberg machine originated from a San Fransisco, California all-American engineer, cartoonist, and inventor Reuben Garrett Lucius Goldberg. Reuben always had a passion for creating silly cartoons. Ever since he was born in 1883, he always loved creating things using his imaginative mind. He started off his engineering career through his cartoons. Goldberg would draw his wacky cartoons into sketches of outstanding inventions. He created these inventions because of what he believed. According tothe website,” Famousinventors.org,” believed people often take complicated approaches to solve simple problems instead of making their lives easier.” Rube has created incredible inventions that have impacted the world today. For example, mentalfloss.com lists many inventions that he created such as “A simple idea for an automatic device for emptying ash trays”, “The portable-movie-talkie-camera", and “A simple device for taking your own picture.” The Rube Goldberg machine has many purposes on why it was created. But what are they? The Rube Goldberg machine is very important in the world today. The significance of them was to help to make work effortless. A requirement of the contraptions is to have complex systems of basic machines, all structured in logic sequences to finish easy tasks. For it to be considered in the Rube Goldberg category, it must be a device, invention, machine, apparatus, or contraption that must involve a chain reaction to complete the chore in a different way. According to the website “Mousetrapinventions.com”, “Rube Goldberg’s invention cartoons were largely influenced by the ‘machine age’ at the beginning of the century and by the complex new mechanisms invented to simplify life.” Goldberg’s cartoons created a huge purpose in the world. There are many inventions that can be created using the Rube Goldberg format. What are the steps and materials needed to make a successful Rube Goldberg machine? When it comes to making a Rube Goldberg machine, the possibilities of the devices in the creation are endless. There are many different types of materials that can be used in the making of the Rube Goldberg. Here are some examples.
Paper tubes
Lego Bricks
Piping
Funnels
Tubing
Pulleys
Butterfly Nets
Dominos
Rolls of Tape
Marbles
Strings
Cardboard
Paperclips
Pipe cleaners
Straw
Some steps that can be used while building a classified Rube Goldberg machine are, 1. Get inspired. 2. Solve a problem. 3. Gather supplies. 4. Build your machine. 5. Tips for success. These steps came from the website,” tinkerlab.com.” Some of the materials or steps can involve the independent and dependent variables in a scientific investigation. The scientists have formed a hypothesis and is now trying to relate the independent and dependent variables together. How will that be done? In the scientist's experiment, their variables are a light switch and how long it takes to complete the task/Rube Goldberg. They relate to each other because the disabled person struggles to turn on the light switch, but the Rube Goldberg machine helps solve the simple task in a complex way. But the scientist wants to make sure that the Rube Goldberg machine runs fast so that the job can be done in a quick manor for the disabled person. Turning on a light switch is certainly a fast and easy task. But when the disabled person is not capable of easily performing the task, there must be a way around the problem to help them so that they don’t struggle. The Rube Goldberg machine would be built to turn on the light switch in the end but, in a fast time. That’s how the scientists wanted the variables to relate. The variables relate to the scientist's topic because it involves the variables needed to solve their hypothesis. There is some information needed to start an engineering experiment. For starters, what is engineering? Engineering is “The application of science to the optimum conversation of the resources of nature to the uses of humankind.” as said on “brittanica.com.” Engineering is mainly based on chemistry, mathematics, and physics. Engineering differs from other fields of science because they must solve problems as the pop up rather than wait until the experiment has been tested 3 times. Also, the solution to the problem must meet the standards of the researcher and the researcher must make sure that the solution includes 2 types of natural resources such as materials and energy. The researcher also did their research on engineering in a book titled, "Machinery's Handbook.” Machinery’s Handbook was written to give its readers a reference of engineering and to provide the readers with “essential aspects of sophisticated manufacturing practice.”(as said in the summary on “books.industrialpress.com). According to “books.industrialpress.com”, which provides a brief summary on the books, states, "Essential reference for mechanical, manufacturing, industrial engineers. New information added on building/manufacturing using different mechanisms and techniques.” Engineering is a whole other perspective on science. It is unique in its own ways and involves many special steps. There are certain safety precautions to take while engineering something. What are they? In the scientists' experiment they needed to take certain safety precautions in order to stay protected and not get injured. Some precautions are:
Wear goggles
Use Heat resistant gloves
Have parent supervision when using hot glue
Back up when the product is being tested in case of flying objects.
Wear a helmet
Just remember those for the future. Always keep tips in mind when conducting a Rube Goldberg experiment. Some are, 1. Take stock. 2. timing is everything. 3. make sure it works in one take. 4. if you can, make it repeatable. 5. get outside feedback. 6. Go out with a bang. These tips came from “fastcompany.com.” There is a few more things that need to be discussed before the scientists carry out their experiment! What are they? Energy transfer is a very important factor in a Rube Goldberg machine. According to “nbclearn.com”, a chain-reaction machine is what's known as a compound machine, a series of simple machines connected to form a more complex gadget. To function, energy must continuously transfer from one step to the next through motion, heat, gravity, or electricity.” In a Rube Goldberg machine, energy is being transferred through kinetic energy which gives an object more speed to transfer energy to the next object. In a Rube Goldberg machine, this is known as the domino effect. It's like a collision between objects. The overall goal of a Rube Goldberg machine is to find unique, creative ways of transferring energy through different machines put together to form a big complex contraption. Overall, everything has been done for the experiment to be conducted for the scientists. What’s the next step? Finally, the scientists need to figure out the importance to their investigation and the purpose of it all. Well, like they said earlier, the purpose of the Rube Goldberg machine is to help make work effortless. The Scientists succeeded in reaching their goal. The experiment involved their light bulb and time it took to work the machine for the disabled people. Now that the importance of a Rube Goldberg machine has been addressed, the scientists next step is to find out the importance to their experiment. To the scientists, the importance of their experiment was helping the disabled people. In the end, the scientists created a great experiment to make peoples live easier. Their projects importance was helping people in need in a quick, yet complex way.