Rube Goldberg Science Project.

It's Sunday! Isn't everyone working on their Rube Goldberg Science Project for 6th grade like we are? Well, not really me, I'm just in charge of drinks and snacks. My husband and son are working in the garage on one of the pieces for the science project. Although they haven't put all of the components together, they are finalizing details on the biggest piece and end result of the project. Over the next few weeks, I will be breaking down this science project for you in more detail.

What is Rube Goldberg?

Rube Goldberg (1883-1970) was a Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist best known for his zany invention cartoons. He was born in San Francisco on the 4th of July, 1883 – and graduated from U. Cal Berkeley with a degree in engineering. His first job at the San Francisco Chronicle led to early success, but it wasn’t until he moved to NYC and began working for Hearst publications that he became a household name. Rube Goldberg is the only person ever to be listed in the Merriam Webster Dictionary as an adjective. It’s estimated that he did a staggering 50,000 cartoons in his lifetime.

This portion of the project is a volcano as shown in the pictures. The materials needed include a plastic plate, polystyrene expanding foam, plastic bottle and paint in order to create this part of the science project. My sixth grader is learning through hands-on experience using household items and science. The best part is my younger son is learning as well because he is an observer of how his older brother executes the project by himself. We are all at home learning through this homework assignment. His goal will strategically build, place and execute the eruption of his volcano using nothing more than 6 simple tools:

Incline Plane
Wedge
Wheel & Axle
Screw
Lever
Pulley

Mad-Science Moment:

By the way, our home looks like a tornado hit it twice and then backed up over it because we pulled every single supply box out of the closet. We have not had time to put them back and the clean up will be left up to me now. My roll in helping with this science project is snacks and clean-up. I am okay with my support role because that is what a mother's love does.

Project overview...

https://www.iusd.org/education_services/documents/Rube-Goldberg-Project-Overview.pdf

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