Rube Goldberg Machines

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Rube Goldberg Machines

• Steve Case
• University of Mississippi
• NSF NMGK-8
• January 2006

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Rube Goldberg

• Reuben Lucius Goldberg
• 1883-1970
• Born in San Francisco
• Graduated with engineering degree from University
  of California Berkeley
• Worked as an engineer for City of San Francisco
  Water and Sewer Department

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Rube Goldberg

• Convinced his father he wanted to work as an
  artist
• Got a job as an office boy in sports department
  of a San Francisco newspaper
• Kept submitting cartoons until he was published
• Moved to New York to draw daily cartoons for
  Evening Mail

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Rube Goldberg

• Founding member of National Cartoonist Society
• Pulitzer Prize winner
• National figure, often-quoted television and
  radio personality
• 60-year career

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Rube Goldbergs INVENTIONS

• Cartoons that symbolized mans capacity for
  exerting maximum effort to accomplish minimal
  results
• Cartoons depicted convoluted machines functioning
  in complex ways to perform simple tasks
• Rube Goldberg has become synonymous with any
  complex system achieving a basic task

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Invention for Opening the Garage Door without
Getting out of the Car
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So what . . . ?

• Rube Goldberg machines are examples of complex
  machines.
• All complex machines are made up of combinations
  of simple machines.
• Rube Goldberg machines are usually a complicated
  combination of simple machines.
• By studying the components of Rube Goldberg
  machines, we learn more about simple machines.

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Simple Machines

• Have few or no moving parts
• Make work easier
• Can be combined to create complex machines

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Lever

• A rigid board or rod free to rotate around a
  fixed point called a fulcrum
• By varying position of load and fulcrum, load can
  be lifted or moved with less force
• Trade off must move lever large distance to move
  load small distance

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Inclined Plane

• A slope or ramp that goes from a lower to higher
  level
• Makes work easier by requiring less force to lift
  something a certain distance
• Trade off the distance the load must be moved
  would be greater than simply lifting it straight
  up

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Wheel and Axle

• A larger circular wheel affixed to a smaller
  rigid rod at its center
• Used to translate force across horizontal
  distances (wheels on a wagon) or to make
  rotations easier (a doorknob)
• Trade off the wheel must be rotated through a
  greater distance than the axle

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Screw

• An inclined plane wrapped around a rod or
  cylinder
• Used to lift materials or bind things together
• Trade off the screw must be rotated many times
  to move something a small distance

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Wedge

• An inclined plane on its side
• Used to cut or force material apart
• Trade off the wedge must be moved a large
  distance to separate the material a small distance

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Pulley

• A rope or chain free to turn around a suspended
  wheel
• By pulling down on the rope, a load can be lifted
  with less force
• Trade off no real trade off here the secret is
  that the pulley lets you work with gravity so you
  add the force of your own weight to the rope

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The trick is WORK

• Simple machines change the amount of force
  needed, but they do not change the amount of work
  done.
• What is work?
• Work equals force times distance
• W F x d
• By increasing the distance, you can decrease the
  force and still do the same amount of work.

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Examples

• Lever
• Work is equal on both sides of a lever. You move
  the long end a LARGE distance with SMALL force.
  The other end moves a SMALL distance with a LARGE
  force, which is why it can lift heavy objects.

• Inclined Plane
• It takes a certain amount of work to get the
  cabinet into the truck. You can either exert a
  LARGE force to lift it the SMALL distance into
  the truck, or you can exert a SMALL force to move
  it a LARGE distance along the ramp.

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Invention for Opening the Garage Door without
Getting out of the Car
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Sources

• Edheads. 2005. Simple Machines. Accessed
  January 28, 2006. lthttp//edheads.org/activities/
  simple-machines/sm-glossary.htms2gt
• Fyon, Eric. November 8, 1999. Professor
  Beakers Learning Labs What is an Inclined
  Plane? Accessed January 28, 2006.
  lthttp//www.professorbeaker.com/plane_fact.htmlgt
• Mikkelson, Barbara and David P. 2006. Cog.
  Accessed January 28, 2006. lthttp//www.snopes.com/
  autos/business/hondacog.aspgt
• Rube Goldberg, Inc. 2006. Rube Goldberg
  Machine Contest 2006. Accessed January 28,
  2006. lthttp//www.rube-goldberg.com/html/contest.
  htmgt
• Smith, Patrick. 2006. Vector Park. Accessed
  January 28, 2006. lthttp//www.vectorpark.com/Leve
  rs.htmlgt
• Telegraph Group Limited. 2006. Lights!
  Camera! Retake! Accessed January 28, 2006.
  lthttp//www.opinion.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtm
  l?xml/news/2003/04/13/nhonda13.xmlsSheet/news/2
  003/04/13/ixhome.htmlgt