The Steps for Our Machine
For our project we had to use at least 5 of the 6 simple machines and have at least 10 steps. We also had to come up with a theme for our entire project. In the end we had used 5 simple machines and we used 11 steps to complete our project. The theme we chose was candy/ sugar, so for our marble, we used a gumball. The final outcome of our project was to put whipped cream and sprinkles onto a cookie.
Our first simple machine that we used was an incline plane, also known as a ramp, which we placed our gumball on to start the machine. The gumball then free feel through a pastry bag onto our second incline plane. From there the gumball went onto our third incline plane. The gumball then fell into a cup that was attached to a pulley. As the cup dumped out the gumball onto another series of ramps, the weight that was connected to the pulley hit a wheel and axle. As the wheel axle rolled down a slope, it hit another gumball that then started down the other half of the machine. The gumball on the second half went down a screw and at the bottom, the gumball hit a lever which released sprinkles onto the cookie. Back on the first half, the original gumball continued down two more incline planes. On the bottom of the last ramp was a weight that was connected to the bottle of whipped cream. When the weight fell, it pulled on the whipped cream can, dispensing whipped cream onto the same cookie.
Some of the most challenging parts of building the machine was to get the whipped cream and the pulley to work properly. We spent most of our last days trying to make both work. We realized that the whipped cream would only come out if the can was upside- down and if the nozzle stayed in place. The pulley was significantly more challenging because it had to perform two functions; to dump out the first gumball and to hit the wheel and axle. We found that if we secured the bottom of the cup to a string that was fasted to nail. As the cup went down it tilted and dumped out the gumball as it simultaneously hit the weight.
For our project we had to use at least 5 of the 6 simple machines and have at least 10 steps. We also had to come up with a theme for our entire project. In the end we had used 5 simple machines and we used 11 steps to complete our project. The theme we chose was candy/ sugar, so for our marble, we used a gumball. The final outcome of our project was to put whipped cream and sprinkles onto a cookie.
Our first simple machine that we used was an incline plane, also known as a ramp, which we placed our gumball on to start the machine. The gumball then free feel through a pastry bag onto our second incline plane. From there the gumball went onto our third incline plane. The gumball then fell into a cup that was attached to a pulley. As the cup dumped out the gumball onto another series of ramps, the weight that was connected to the pulley hit a wheel and axle. As the wheel axle rolled down a slope, it hit another gumball that then started down the other half of the machine. The gumball on the second half went down a screw and at the bottom, the gumball hit a lever which released sprinkles onto the cookie. Back on the first half, the original gumball continued down two more incline planes. On the bottom of the last ramp was a weight that was connected to the bottle of whipped cream. When the weight fell, it pulled on the whipped cream can, dispensing whipped cream onto the same cookie.
Some of the most challenging parts of building the machine was to get the whipped cream and the pulley to work properly. We spent most of our last days trying to make both work. We realized that the whipped cream would only come out if the can was upside- down and if the nozzle stayed in place. The pulley was significantly more challenging because it had to perform two functions; to dump out the first gumball and to hit the wheel and axle. We found that if we secured the bottom of the cup to a string that was fasted to nail. As the cup went down it tilted and dumped out the gumball as it simultaneously hit the weight.
Calculations
Some of you may be wondering what all of this actually means, so I'm going to explain this to you.
- Incline Plane- It is basically a ramp. The more gradual the slope is the less force you use, and the steeper it is the more fore you have to use.
- Pulley- They are used to lift loads. In our case as one side went down because of the weight of the gumball the other side was lifted to hit our next piece which was our wheel and axle.
- Wheel and Axle- In our project, our wheel turned slowly while the axle rotated quickly because of the fact that the weight hit the wheel. That means that the wheel was the effort and the axle was the load.
- Screw- In the screw, the height is the load and the actual length of the screw is the effort.
- Lever- In our project, the load was the cup full of sprinkles and the effort was when the gumball hit the other side. A lever works in the way of where a plank is balanced across a fulcrum. In order to have one side move, you need to exert a force on the opposite end.
- Change in Potential Energy- This show how energy is loss due to kinetic energy and/ or friction. The unit of measure is Joules (J).
- Mechanical Advantage or MA- This tells you how many times easier a simple machine is; for example if the MA is then it is 3 times easier. There is no unit of measure for MA because when you divide the units should cancel out, if they do not then you probably did it wrong.
- Velocity- This is the rate of distance an object covers in a given amount of time. The unit of measure you would use is meters per second (m/s).
- Acceleration- This is how many meters per second an object speeds up. The unit of measure is meters per second squared (m/s^2).
Reflection
Throughout this project I discovered some of my personal strengths and weaknesses. I discovered that I am a leader. That helped me in this project because I tried to evenly proportion out the work. That made my group members feel like they were more involved in the project. When everyone felt included we came up with some great solutions and ideas to make out project work better. I did notice that as the leader of the group that my group members came to me if they had a problem and have me try to help them fix it. That was nice because I told me that my group members respected and valued my opinions, but on the other hand I was harder for me to focus on my own task.
A fault that our entire group had was a lack in communication. If we had a good idea we usually consulted one or two of our group members. That lead to problems because some of us didn't know what was going on, so in the future we all should communicate better. One of my flaws was that towards the end of the project I was stress out about finishing our project and I was short tempered. So that was terrible of me because I did not make every team member feel like they were a part of our group. Next time we can work on our time management, so we are not stressed out and irritated at the end of the project. I could personally improve by trying to keep those feelings to myself.
Throughout this project I discovered some of my personal strengths and weaknesses. I discovered that I am a leader. That helped me in this project because I tried to evenly proportion out the work. That made my group members feel like they were more involved in the project. When everyone felt included we came up with some great solutions and ideas to make out project work better. I did notice that as the leader of the group that my group members came to me if they had a problem and have me try to help them fix it. That was nice because I told me that my group members respected and valued my opinions, but on the other hand I was harder for me to focus on my own task.
A fault that our entire group had was a lack in communication. If we had a good idea we usually consulted one or two of our group members. That lead to problems because some of us didn't know what was going on, so in the future we all should communicate better. One of my flaws was that towards the end of the project I was stress out about finishing our project and I was short tempered. So that was terrible of me because I did not make every team member feel like they were a part of our group. Next time we can work on our time management, so we are not stressed out and irritated at the end of the project. I could personally improve by trying to keep those feelings to myself.