Episode 18 – Obscene Goldberg Machines

First, you will need to download the Obscene Goldberg Machines lab manual.

Over 100 years ago, an engineer and cartoonist by the name of Rube Goldberg began drawing intricate cartoons that showed complex machines completing very simple tasks. Think about some of the easy things you may do in your day to day life, such as turning on a light switch. Now, imagine if you turned on that light switch by rolling a marble through a series of obstacles, having that marble knock over 100 dominos, having those dominos trigger a baseball to roll onto a trampoline and having that baseball bounce high enough to lift a piece of wood attached to the light switch, thus, finally switching the light on. What a whirlwind!

These machines are intended to complicate an otherwise simple task. How could you build a machine to execute this? What materials would you want to use?

Our EYES team will encourage you to think like Rube Goldberg in this episode and provide you with many tips and tricks on how to best execute the building of these machines.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the worlds largest ever Rube Goldberg machine to date was created by a company in Latvia. They lit up a Christmas tree using 412 individual steps and mechanisms! The entire process from start to finish took 10 minutes just to light up the tree. To organize this achievement, the company spent over 2 months planning and building their design. How long can you make your Rube Goldberg?

Saskatchewan Curriculum Connection: SS6.1: Demonstrate understanding of angles including: identifying examples classifying angles, estimating the measure, determining angle measures in degrees, drawing angles