Operation Burglar Alarm

Clayton and his friend, Alex, teamed up on a physics project.  They had to build a "Rube Goldberg" contraption using at least five simple machines.  It also had to be portable - something they could pack up and take to school.  This is a lot harder than it looks.  It took these guys hours to come up with a plan and even more hours to get it to work.  Thankfully we had a lot of great stuff already on hand - legos, marbles, dominoes, marble tracks, hex bugs, blocks, string, and a bell.  They named their contraption "Operation Burglar Alarm" because it begins with a string attached to a door and is triggered when the door opens.  Here's their cool video.

 Their written plan.

And this is the coolest part.  When I checked up on the boys, I asked them if they were making sure to use the six simple machines.  Clayton laughed and said, "Actually most of them are in the very first contraption." and then pointed out the pulley, the wheel and axle, the lever, the wedge, and the inclined plane.

The dominoes proved to be the most frustrating part.  Next, the lever that opens so the hex bugs can get out.  Getting these contraptions right is a lot harder than it looks!

The hero of the day, or I guess the villain, was Isaac.  He played the part perfectly and ad-libbed his lines whenever the alarm went wrong.  He was hilarious.