Compound Machine

 Build a Compound Machine

 

 

        After testing the simple machines we were handed a new task which was to make a compound machine out of the pulley, wheel and axle, and the lever (we were not allowed to use the inclined plane) without an ideal mechanical advantage.  You most be thinking if there is no ideal mechanical advantage what was the point in combining the machines? Well to answer that question we had to try and get as high of a mechanical advantage as we could get.  And whatever mechanical advantage we got would be our grade which was written on the board what you have to get to get a certain grade.

 

       When we were working on this project we weren't really worried about what the other groups were making/ building, because we were focused on getting at least an A- on the machine.  Even though we weren't worried about the other groups it was still cool to see what some of them came up with especially Christian Merkle.  A problem we had with this project was finding a secure place to put our Lever, when attached to the pulley, and crank.  So to solve this problem we drilled 2 holes through the pieces of wood holding the pulley up right and pulled a piece of string through it connecting the Wheel & Axle, and Lever together while still incorporating the pulley in the middle.  At first our method didn't really work but we made some adjustments, and at the end it all came together getting us a mechanical advantage of 39 which gave us a B+, not what we wanted to get but it was acceptable.  We could have focused more on our project instead of talking to the other groups and getting distracted.

 

      The most difficult part about this assignment was putting the three machines together, and having them all work together to move the nails, and the get an accurate read on the spring scale.  The mechanical advantage my group got was extremely surprising because it took a while to get the three together.  I could apply the knowledge that I learned from this project to a future experiment that involves putting together 2 other machines or invention, because now I know what I did wrong and what I have to fix in the future.