Springboro Junior High School (SJHS) students in Ms. Hale’s science class, from both Model A and Model B, recently worked on a project that dealt with the Law of Conservation of Energy. The goal of this project was for students to investigate energy transformations through the design of a Rube Goldberg machine.
A “Rube Goldberg” is a machine that takes a simple task and makes it overly complicated through a series of connecting steps. The requirements were to build a machine using everyday materials that had five steps, five types of energy, and one simple machine. After constructing a successful machine, students identified the different energy transformations that took place and explained their design process in a lab report.
Seventh graders James Ray and Ben Westerfield, both Model B students, went above and beyond for this project! James' final task was to launch a bottle rocket, while Ben's final task was to pop a balloon. Check out videos of their Rube Goldberg machines!