Goldberg’s Gears
Make the simple complicated! Design an invention in the imaginative style Rube Goldberg. Draw a self-operating chain reaction that shows you understand physics and mechanics.
1. Reuben Lucius Goldberg graduated with an engineering degree from the University of California. After 6 months of working at a water and sewers department, he changed his career and became a cartoonist. His cartoons were pictures of complicated inventions that did simple tasks. For example, he might have a 12-step process to use a napkin at the table. He also used odd materials such as pets, food items, clocks, and gears in his inventions.
2. Find some of Rube Goldberg’s famous cartoons of inventions. What simple task does each accomplish? List the steps in the process. What equipment does Goldberg use? Which scientific principles---such as gravity, acceleration, momentum, and leverage---apply?
3. Choose a simple task. Think about how you could do this task in 10 or more steps. On white paper, use Crayola® Colored Pencils to list the steps involved in your process.
4. On more white paper, use Crayola Twistables™, Washable Markers, and Colored Pencils to draw your invention. Label each part of the process with a letter, just like Goldberg did.
5. Which principles of physics and mechanics apply to your invention? Write the principles on your drawing. Explain how your invention works to your classmates.
Adult supervision is required for any arts & crafts project.
Small Parts—
WARNING: CHOKING HAZARD—Small parts. Not for children under 3 years.
- Omit the labels on your drawing. Write a title and the scientific principles that make it work. Now give it to a classmate and ask him or her to supply the missing labels.
- As a class or a small group, decide upon an invention. Do a large-scale invention on a long piece of craft paper. Ask each person to create and illustrate one step in the process.
- Construct a 3-D replica of your invention. Use recycled boxes, gift wrap rolls, and other items to make a gigantic sculpture.
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