Kennedy’s Junkyard Machine (Girls)
Event Location: Cocoa-FL
Competition: Energy Transfer Machine
Division: 6-8
School: Kennedy Middle
Team Name: Energy Empresses
Project Name: Empress Engine
Team Size: 6
Kennedy Middle School’s The Energy Empresses
Theme: One Teacher’s Trash is another student’s Energy Transfer Machine
Team Members: Emma S. (8th), Jin Z. (8th), Noelle B. (8th), Alayna M. (8th), Leila H. (8th), Sadie C. (7th)
We used the Junk laying around.
All materials used in this project were thoughtfully sourced from recycled items. The wood, cardboard tubes, corrugated plastic, and plywood were either repurposed from older projects, recovered from a local cabinet shop, or found on the side of the road. This approach not only promotes sustainability but also adds a unique character to the final creation.
Final Machine Run
Explaination
Step 1: RC Car and Block
Materials used: old RC car, a piece of string, an aluminum rod, and 2 batteries(size: AA, 3V)
Function: The rod attached to two strings is pulled and moves forward until the top string(shorter string) pulls the wood block attached to it off a toy car track which releases the toy car. The RC car will then automatically stop when the bottom string(longer string) tied to the leg of a table is pulled, switching the lever off.
Step 2: Toy Car Track
Materials used: toy car, wood, nails, wood glue, toy car track, and tape
Function: The Mini car goes down the car track (inclined plane) and hits a cardboard tube.
Step 3: Cardboard Tube and Ramp
Materials used: cardboard tube, wooden board, and tape
Function: The Tube goes down a wooden ramp(inclined plane) and hits the book dominoes.
Step 4: Book Domino’s
Materials used: books
Function: Book dominoes hit a bowling ball.
Step 5: Bowling Ball Track
Materials used: bowling ball, wood, nails
Function: The bowling ball rolls down the track until it hits the wooden board at the end.
Step 6: Wood Board and Block
Materials used: cardboard tube, wooden board, and tape
Function: The Tube goes down a wooden ramp(inclined plane) and hits the book dominoes.
Step 7: Ping Pong Ball Run
Materials used: cardboard tube, wood board, and tape
Function: Tube goes down a wooden ramp(inclined plane) and hits the book dominoes.
Step 8: Ping Pong Ball Tunnel
Materials used: cardboard tube and a ping pong ball
Function: The ball goes down the cardboard tube and sets off a mousetrap.
Step 9: Mouse Trap and Golf Ball
Materials used: mouse trap, string, paper, and a golf ball
Function: Once the mousetrap has gone off, it pulls a piece of paper connected by a string. The paper is set under a golf ball, so when the paper is pulled, the ball will be released.
Step 10: Golf Ball Tube and Track
Materials used: Plastic tube, wood, wood glue, nails, metal, and tape
Function: The ball goes down a plastic tube that leads onto a metal track that leads up to an inclined plane connected to a wooden track.
Step 11: Mouse Trap Catches Toy Rat
Materials used: golf ball, tape, mousetrap, and toy rat
Function: The Golf ball hits the mousetrap and catches the rat toy.
This is the final task in our machine.
The worst part was setting up the books over 100 times!
Extras:
Running into the never ending book resets…
WE HATE BOOK DOMINOES!!!
R.I.P Mr. Banana, our forever supporter
Our final take took 112 failed ones
Excellent documentation and a very vlever machine. You showed great dedication with all of those trials. To enhance your explanation in a future project, add the forms of energy you see in your steps, describing how the energy is being transferred and transformed along the way. All in all, a great job!
Thank you! We really appreciate the feedback. Will make sure to include the energy transfers next year.
Great job documenting the steps and showing them clearly on the web page. I also liked knowing how many tries it took to finally complete. Well done using so many found and recycled materials. Having a string turn off the car was a great idea, rather than letting it keep running against the wall. I see you wrote that you hate book dominoes, I would like to hear more about that, was it your toughest challenge? If so, why do you think that was the case? If you had to do this again, what would you have done differently? It looks like Mr. Banana has seen a lot.
Thank you! The book dominos weren’t the toughest challenge, but we hated them because they took forever to set up each time. When we set them up they kept falling, over time we realized if we taped the books together they would be more stable. Taping the books was a life saver. Our toughest challenge was getting as close as we could to one minute. We had several successful attempts, but they would be 15, 10, or 5 seconds away from a minute, but we ended up with only being about 2 seconds off. If we were to do something differently we would have made more grand of an ending. Mr. Banana meant a lot to us. We couldn’t have done it without him because our machine didn’t come to life until he came to life. Thank you again!
Thank you for your feedback. The book dominoes were a pain to reset each time, but we eventually found out that taping the books closed helped them stay up. We had a few challenges and issues aside from the dominoes. Having each step work every time was tough, as we frequently had things go off at wrong times. The mousetrap activated golf ball was difficult to set on the paper the first few dozens of takes, since the ball was heavy on the paper. If we had to do this again, I would say we could have added a couple of other simple machines/energy transfers like pulleys and screws. Mr. Banana has been an essential part of our success. Once again, thank you for your comments.