In Science & Engineering’s G9 Engineering Project, we were tasked with designing and creating a device that involves energy transfer.

Purpose: Demonstrate the transfer of energy, and also entertain.

The G9 Engineering Project specifies that this project is meant to show energy transfer, so that is the main goal of this project. Furthermore, I would like for my device to be entertaining or at least interesting since it would be completely pointless otherwise.

Audience: People who would like to be entertained and / or learn about energy transfer.

Project Constraints:

  • A time limit of two weeks for building. This will limit how complex my device can be.
  • Limited materials. This will make some ideas impossible, and other ideas not fully implementable.
  • My lack of skills. This will affect the quality of my product, and also make some ideas off-limits to me.

 

Here are my 3 initial design ideas:

Idea 1: Wooden Marble Track

Materials:

  • Wood, because it is the most accessible material at the ISB Design Center. It is also rather durable.
  • 3D printing material if possible, because it would save the time of cutting and help with precision. However, I don’t have much experience with 3D printing.

Pros:

  • Is not overly complicated / intricate.
  • Is rather interesting.
  • Not dangerous at all.

Cons:

  • Requires materials to come in blocks instead of planks, which is what the Design Center offers.
  • Woodcutting might be time-consuming, and therefore it might not be possible to make a long marble track.

Idea 2: Rube Goldberg Machine

Materials:

  • Depends on the machine. Will require lots of different materials though.

Pros:

  • Is not too complicated to set up.
  • Is interesting.
  • The final product is not very dangerous.

Cons:

  • Testing will take a lot of time.
  • Requires a lot of planning.
  • Requires precise measurements.
  • Is very fragile: one accidental / failed activation and the entire project will have to be reset.
  • Could be difficult to design.

Idea 3: Rubber-band-powered Paper Airplane Launcher

Materials:

  • Paper for the paper airplane.
  • Rubber band(s).
  • Cardboard
  • Wood

Pros:

  • Fun.
  • Not very dangerous.

Cons:

  • There aren’t a lot of improvements to be made after the basic product is finished, so if I finish early I will have nothing to do.

 

In the end, I decided to develop the paper airplane launcher. The wooden marble track simply requires too much time, and the Rube Goldberg machine requires too much planning.