The Epic Gamer – Rube Goldberg Machine

The Epic Gamer

Goal: The end goal of this machine is for me to be able to turn on my Xbox while seated on the couch and just throwing a roll of toilet paper.

Steps:

A: A roll of toilet paper is thrown by me to the ball.

B: Ball is hit from an inclined plane and rolls down the inclined plane

C: The ball strikes a book creating a domino effect of books

D: The books will knock over a weight which will hit one side of a lever

E: The lever will start the rotation of a fidget spinner

F: The fidget spinner will hit earbuds handing down which will cause them to swing

G: The swinging will cause them to knock down a small speaker which will knock down books in a domino effect

H: The domino effect will lead to the spin bike where a weight will push the pedal forward

I: The wheel will have a fishing rod attached to it and move forward

J: The forward movement of the rod will cause the Xbox to turn on and start my game

Types of simple machines used:

A. Inclined plane

D. Lever

H. and F. Wheel and axle

Types of energy being used:

Chemical Energy: The chemical energy in this machine starts with me. I received chemical energy from the food I ate, and that energy allows me to throw the roll of toilet paper which starts my machine.
Mechanical energy; Mechanical energy is the movement of an object from one place to another and so the toilet paper roll gets the energy from me and turns into mechanical energy as I throw it across to my machine.
Gravitational energy: The gravitational energy happens once I throw my toilet paper roll and it strikes the stopper I placed. Without gravitational energy, the roll wouldn’t drop down and hit the soccer ball, but the gravitational energy allows it to drop down and hit the ball.
Rotational kinetic energy: The rotational kinetic energy is once the soccer ball is struck, it will allow the ball to roll down the inclined plane.
Kinetic energy: The kinetic energy would be the several domino effects that I had because a domino effect will convert gravitational potential energy into kinetic energy.
Electrical energy: The electric energy in my machine would be once I turn my Xbox on, electricity flows through my Xbox to my tv allowing me to use the tv as a monitor of the Xbox.
Sound energy: Near the end of my machine, once the fishing rod hits the button on my Xbox, there is sound energy produced because it makes a sound as it turns on.

Energy transformations:

The first energy transformation is from the chemical energy within my body to throw the toilet paper hitting the ball which causes mechanical energy.
The ball had potential energy as it sat on a higher level but then once it was struck, it got the mechanical energy and changed it into rotational kinetic energy as it rolled down the inclined plane.
The rotational kinetic energy then becomes mechanical energy once again as it strikes the books converting their potential energy into mechanical energy.
The movement of the fishing rod into the button on the Xbox will convert the mechanical energy into 2 different types of energy. First, it will create sound energy as the Xbox will make a sound as it turns on. Secondly, it will create electric energy which transfers from the Xbox to my television where I am then able to play my games.

Here is the core competency for my project: