Our challenge was to create a life jacket for a plastic doll. We could use one piece of foam and one rubber band.  We decided to put a piece of foam behind the doll’s head, and one of equal size on his stomach.  

Our life jacket worked 4/5 times he was dropped. I think it worked because there was equal weight on both side of it’s body. 

To improve our design, we could have put more foam on it’s stomach to increase the chance of it working all 5 times.

Using this life jacket increased the volume of our doll, causing the density to change. 

Rube Goldberg Machine:

It worked because we tested each part of it separately, making sure that one of the parts doesn’t ruin it for the rest.

Also, we didn’t try to go too creative with our design, sometimes when people do that, it doesn’t work as well as

when you make it simpler. I think that our design was very good and that each of the parts worked together to

make it better.

Simple Machines:

There are many different simple machines. Some of them include:

Levers: They help to lift heavy objects that you may not have been able to move otherwise.

Inclined Plane: It is a ramp. It takes less force to move the object up it, than lifting it straight up.

Screws: In some cases, screws can help hold things together.

Extra Information: 

A lever is a rod that is lifted up onto a fulcrum.

A fulcrum is the thing in which the lever sits on so it can function.

Seesaws, wheelbarrows, tweezers, etc. are all forms of levers!

Simple machines help us to move objects more easily.

The wheel and axle multiplies the force that you apply to it, helping you lift an object.