0

Rube Goldberg machine

“The Automatic Water Cup Filler 5000”

Krista, Angie and I worked hard to create a rube Goldberg machine that encompasses at least 3 simple machines, and 2 energy transfers. The machine starts when the steel ball is dropped through tube A on an inclined plane through the tube. This is a transfer of gravitational potential energy to mechanical energy by going down the slant. The steel ball then increases its gravitational potential energy at ramp B by going upward and the force that it has created jumps to a horizontal plane, then funneling into a cup at point C. The steel ball then passes through the cup and onto another inclined plane using more mechanical kinetic energy. The marble hits pendulum D which swings (using up gravitational energy) to knock down dominos at point E that uses sound and gravitational energy. The dominos fall on to lever F causing a marble on the other side to jump and roll down an inclined plane transferring to mechanical energy. At point G, the marble switches direction and continues to knock down a set of dominos at point H which progressively increase in size creating sound, gravitational and kinetic energy which then knock down a lever at point I. the lever causes the water to tip over at point J and pours a glass of water.

 

Simple machines:

Inclined plane

Lever

Pendulum

Wedge

Ramp

 

Energy transfers

gravitational potential energy – mechanical energy

mechanical kinetic energy – gravitational energy

Mechanical kinetic energy – sound energy and gravitational energy

 

0

DNA Model

DNA makes up all living things, and identify’s us for who we are. There are genetic codes in each strand of DNA that makes each being, individual. The DNA Strand has two sugar phosphate backbones that holds it together. Attached to the two backbones are amino nitrogen bases that contain the specific genetic information, like the color of someones eyes. There are four nitrogen bases in the DNA. The four are Adenine, Guanine, Cytosine, and Thymine. Adenine and Thymine always pair together being known as base pairs, and Cytosine and Guanine always base pairs as well. The DNA’s shape is twisted into a double helix. If you looked strait down the center of a DNA strand, it would appear hollow. A section of the DNA is called a gene, and the DNA is found in chromosomes. Chromosomes are contained our body making us human. As a human, we are all 99.9% alike with our DNA, but the smallest change in the DNA pattern can make us look completely different than our neighbor.