The wonders of Rube Goldberg machines
-
Print
-
Create a hardcopy of this page
-
Font Size:
-
Default font size
-
Larger font size
Posted: Monday, April 9, 2012 3:40 pm
The wonders of Rube Goldberg machines
Springtime feels like science season on the schools beat. So many Science Olympiads, Science Bowls, Science Fairs and other science competitions are doling out the awards for a whole year of hard work right about now.
Science savvy kids might enjoy this video I discovered today through Twitter. Engineers at Purdue University created a Rube Goldberg machine to blow up and pop a balloon. Sounds like an easy task, right?
Not quite. These guys took 300 steps to make it happen, in under two minutes and in a six foot by six foot by six foot space. It's crazy cool.
If you've never heard of a Rube Goldberg machine, the idea is to complete a simple task with a really complicated solution. It's named for a famous cartoonist who drew silly drawings of elaborate solutions for simple problems like how to get the cotton out of an aspirin bottle.
Rube himself never created any one his inventions. But his drawings inspired the work of engineers around the world. The machines start with one burst of energy and keep moving through the final solution.
The team from Purdue didn't win this year's contest, but they are working with the Guinness Book of World Record for Rube Goldberg machine with the most steps.
Here's a link to the video!
http://bit.ly/HvLtnB
And a link to the team's home page.
http://bit.ly/HsKQb6
Posted in
Education
on
Monday, April 9, 2012 3:40 pm.
(%remaining%) Remaining
Thanks for visiting Lodinews.com. You're entitled to view 20 free articles every 30 days. You will see 10 articles for free before being asked to register, and then you can view 10 additional articles by registering or logging in. Then, if you enjoy our site and want full access, we'll ask you to purchase an affordable subscription.
(%remaining%) Remaining
Thanks for visiting Lodinews.com. You're entitled to view 20 free articles every 30 days, and you currently have (%remaining%) free articles remaining ((%remaining_reg%) before being asked to register and (%remaining_sub%) before being asked to subscribe). Then, if you enjoy our site and want full access, we'll ask you to purchase an affordable subscription.
(%remaining%) Remaining
Thanks for visiting Lodinews.com. You're entitled to view 20 free articles every 30 days, and you currently have (%remaining%) free articles remaining ((%remaining_reg%) before being asked to register and (%remaining_sub%) before being asked to subscribe). Then, if you enjoy our site and want full access, we'll ask you to purchase an affordable subscription.
(%remaining%) Remaining
Thanks for visiting Lodinews.com. You're entitled to view 20 free articles every 30 days, and you currently have (%remaining%) total free articles remaining ((%remaining_reg%) before being asked to register and (%remaining_sub%) before being asked to subscribe). Then, if you enjoy our site and want full access, we'll ask you to purchase an affordable subscription.
(%remaining%) Remaining
Thank you for reading Lodinews.com. You have viewed (%viewed%) of your 20 free pages in 30 days. Please login or register at this time and enjoy the next (%remaining%) articles free of charge. After your 20 free articles, we'll ask you to purchase an affordable subscription.
(%remaining%) Remaining
Thank you for reading Lodinews.com. Because you have already viewed this article, you may view it again as many times as you would like without subtracting from your remaining free article views.
(%remaining%) Remaining
Thank you for registering on Lodinews.com. You're entitled to view 20 articles for free every 30 days, and you currently have (%remaining%) remaining. Then, if you enjoy our site and want full access, we'll ask you to purchase an affordable subscription.
(%remaining%) Remaining
Thank you for reading Lodinews.com. You're entitled to view 20 articles for free every 30 days, and you currently have (%remaining%) remaining. Then, if you enjoy our site and want full access, we'll ask you to purchase an affordable subscription.
(%remaining%) Remaining
Thank you for reading Lodinews.com. You're entitled to view 20 articles for free every 30 days, and you currently have (%remaining%) remaining. Then, if you enjoy our site and want full access, we'll ask you to purchase an affordable subscription.
(%remaining%) Remaining
Thank you for reading Lodinews.com. You're entitled to view 20 articles for free every 30 days. This is your last free article this period. On your next article we'll ask you to purchase an affordable subscription.
(%remaining%) Remaining
Thank you for reading 20 free articles on our site. You can come back at the end of your 30-day period for another 20 free articles, or you can purchase a subscription at this time and continue to enjoy valuable local news and information. If you need help, please contact our office at 209-369-2761.
Rules of Conduct
Welcome to the discussion.
Or, use your linked account: