Problem:
What impact does the effect of changing the marble to a clay sphere have when hitting the wedge?
Hypothesis:
I think that changing the marble to a clay sphere will diminish the force of going through the wedge because it weighs less. Also, It will go slower because it weighs less.
Variables:
CV: same track, same track angle, same wedge.
DV: the force.
IV: clay sphere
Control: marble
Materials:
- 2 Marbles
- 1 clay sphere
- 1 track made from wood
- 1 Wooden wedge
- 1 Screw made from paper and tape
- 1 Wheel and axle created from a cup and paper, nail, and tape
- 4 Wood stations
- 1 Pulley with tin foil pans
- 1 Balloon
- 1 needle
- lots of tape
- hot glue and hot glue gun
Procedure:
- Gather all materials
- Turn crank on wheel and axle so the marble falls out of wheel and does the whole track
- Measure force of the marble hitting the wedge on a scale from one to 10, 10 being plowing through it without stopping and 1 being it doesn't get through
- Record data
- Repeat steps 2-4 four more times
- Repeat steps 2-5 with a clay sphere
- Conclude
- Clean up
Observation:
In the first round, the numbers were actually only three apart with the marble's number being higher. The second round had a much larger gap with the clay sphere still trailing. In the third test, the clay sphere had a 1- the worst number, but I think that this is just a phenomenon. In the fourth round, the numbers were relatively the same as the second round. The fifth round had the worst and the best numbers of the marble and clay sphere respectively
Conclusion:
I wanted to see the effect of changing the marble to a clay sphere in my Rube Goldberg. I hypothesized that the marble would go faster and go through the wedge more quickly. My hypothesis was correct because the marble got 8, 8.5, 8.5, 9, 7, and 8 averaging out at a solid 8 out of 10, while the clay sphere got only 5, 3, 1, 4, and 5 averaging out at only 3.6 out of 10.
After doing further research, I found out that the marble had a mass of 2563 kg/cubic m. and that dry clay had a mass of only 1073 kg/cubic m. which explains why the marble was both heavier, and succeeded greater than the clay sphere. This works because as the marble/ clay sphere travels down a ramp/screw, it rubs on the surface due to gravity. The marble has more mass so it rubs against the screw/inclined plane harder so it doesn't go any faster because it has more mass. It goes faster because it has more momentum. Momentum is the force of an object when it speeds up and then stops speeding up. The distance you travel when you stop speeding up is momentum. Another thing that matters is how much mass an object has when it hits another object. The marble has more mass, therefore it plows through the wedge more quickly, which is force. It is force, momentum, and mass that makes the marble plow through the wedge more quickly.
Explain How You Consciously Eliminated External Variables:
I consciously eliminated external variables by making sure that I used the same track and not changing the size or placement of anything. I also eliminated external variables by placing the wedge in the same spot every time and making sure that the marble and the clay sphere had the same surface area.
Meeting the proficiency of proficiency 1:
I met the proficiency of proficiency 1 because my experiment demonstrates all three of Newtons laws. The first law is "things at rest stay at rest, unless acted upon by an outside force." The wedge is an excellent example of this law because it stays still until it is knocked aside by the marble/clay sphere. Newtons second law of motion is "things in motion stay in motion unless acted upon by an outside force." The marble is an example of this law because it's going until it goes on the lever and it stops because of the pan. The third law of motion is "for every action, there is an equal but opposite reaction." The part that shows that is the lever because when the marble goes on the side that's up, then the side that was down goes up and the side that was up goes down.
Meeting the proficiency of proficiency 2:
My experiment meets this proficiency because it shows that gravity is making the marble always goes down and it goes down faster than the clay sphere because it has more mass. It demonstrates friction because the marble/clay sphere is going down at an angle. This shows that gravity is trying to bring it down to the ground, but the ramp/screw is in the way, which creates friction. Friction and gravity apply to the laws of motion because they are staying still until gravity takes hold and then they are moving until an object makes it stop. This applies friction. Those are two of Newton's Laws of Motion
Meeting the proficiency of proficiency 3:
My experiment meets this proficiency because it demonstrates how fast the marble accelerates compared to how fast the clay sphere accelerates. It shows that acceleration is how much faster the object goes from its current speed. It also tells me that speed is just how fast an object is at a current point in time or a constant speed. My experiment explains that the relationship between speed and acceleration is that if you change the acceleration to +3 miles an hour to +4 miles an hour, then the speed goes up a lot faster.
Proficiency 4( Demonstrate how simple machines utilize mechanical advantage to transfer energy):
My Rube Goldberg works by turning the crank on the pulley so the marble drops out. Then it drops in to a tin foil pan attached to a pulley. The other side of the pulley goes up and drops another, lighter marble into the screw. It goes down the screw until it hits the inclined plane and plows through the wedge, which has yet another marble at the wedge. The two marbles then go up into the pan on the left side of the lever and the right side(with a needle attached to it) goes up and pops the balloon. My experiment meets this proficiency because the Rube Goldberg shows all the simple machines. The simple machines are pulleys, levers, inclined planes, wedges, wheel and axles, and screws. Screws are an inclined plane wrapped around a tubular surface. Wedges are just two inclined planes coming to a point. Simple machines use potential and kinetic energy. Potential energy is the energy that an object could have. Kinetic energy is simply motion. The faster something goes, the more kinetic energy it has, and the less potential energy it has. A lever is an excellent example. One side is down and the other is up. Both have a certain amount of potential and kinetic energy. If you place an object on the side that is up, then the kinetic energy increases and the potential energy decreases. Then when the heavier side hits the ground, the kinetic energy decreases and the potential increases.
Proficiency 5(Effectively explain how alternate forms of energy can be utilized to influence the United States energy needs):
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