Ligyrophobiac Torture

1. Ligyrophobiac Torture EF 151 Team Project Section A2

2. Group Members Brent Nanney Jeff Pipkin Tanaysha Mapp Benjamin Strength

3. Overview • Device’s purpose: the device is designed for the simple task of popping a balloon. • Materials used: plywood, dowel, string, marbles, a safety pin, mouse trap, popsicle sticks, hot glue, one large box, one Kleenex box, two bottle tops, scissors, a small hand saw, and a balloon. • Total cost of purchased materials: $16.42

4. Overview cont. • The device consists of four distinct steps. • A marble starts from rest and rolls down a ramp. • The marble strikes another marble hanging from a string, causing the marble to swing up and out like a pendulum. The marble strikes another marble at the top of a second ramp. • The second marble rolls down its ramp and down a funnel to trip a set mousetrap. • The trap springs, which in turn pops the balloon with its popsicle stick-extension armed with a safety pin.

5. Energy Conversions • Step 1 (ramp 1): Ugravity  KE • Step 2 (pendulum): KE  KE + Ugravity • Step 3 (ramp 2 to mouse trap): KE + Ugravity KE • Step 4 (mouse trap): Uelastic  KE

6. Conclusions • The device turned out to be very successful, mostly efficient, and a good idea. • It’s simple and completes the task in a reasonable amount of time. • Each of us learned about rube-Goldberg devices, how to work together as a team on a big project, and how energy can be converted in various everyday tasks through the use of ordinary objects. • Our biggest hurdle was making minor changes and compromises with individual ideas, pertaining to how we would build our device and what materials to use.