Over the span of the last two weeks, physics students have been planning and constructing Rube Goldberg Machines. The students were split up into groups of four or five and were tasked with building a machine that would ring a bell two times within three seconds. The machine could be any design the students decided but was required to meet a specific set of criteria.
The criteria was that is must fit on the provided base, must consist of at least five distinct steps, must contain at least three different simple machines, must be worked on everyday in class, all parts must remain on the base, explosions are not allowed, battery power may be used, but nothing may be plugged in, remote-controlled objects are okay as long as the remote and object are on the base, and it must be able to be reset and run again in five minutes.
Every group’s machine is different due to all of the various ideas the students have. Although their designs vary, the end goal of ringing a bell twice within three seconds remains. After three weeks of building, the students will present their machines in front of the class on Thursday, January 30 and demonstrate their machines’ ingenuity.