The Inefficient Engine

By Adam LindseyNick CasamattaDustin Mount

The Group

Introduction

• The project’s goal was to lift a 1 kilogram mass to a height of 1 meter.

• The “engine” is made mostly of parts the group had at home or from scraps.

• Few items actually needed to be purchased

The Machine

Overview

• We first send a pool ball attached to a piece of string through a PVC pipe. As the ball exits the pipe it pulls with it a piece of wood that was stopping a toy car. The toy car then travels down another PVC pipe and engages a path of dominoes.

• The dominoes set off a mouse trap which in turn pulls the support out from under a tower that holds our counter-weight. The counter-weight falls thus lifting the mass to the correct height.

Energy Conversions

• Ball – Gravitational Potential Energy to Kinetic Energy

• Car– Gravitational Potential Energy to Kinetic Energy

• Dominoes– Gravitational Potential Energy to Kinetic Energy

• Mousetrap– Spring Potential Energy to Rotational Kinetic Energy

• Counter-weight– Gravitational Potential Energy to Kinetic Energy

Conclusion

• Overall was a fairly simple design incorporating many separate pieces

• We encountered a few problems such as:– The dominoes fell in a very inconsistent manner– Our counter-weight kept hitting the moving mass