Roach Trap Project 2 - The Galloway School

Each spring, juniors in Dr. DeGrazia's science class must build a roach trap (the roach, in this case, represented by a paperclip). It sounds simple, right? However, in the spirit of Rube Goldberg, this conceivably two-step process is made as complicated and creative as possible, including a minimum of 10 different steps. In doing so, the students should incorporate all that they learned throughout the year. For starters, the device needs to somehow be triggered by the presence of the roach, and then designed capture that same roach. Every student finds a unique way to accomplish this goal. On demonstration day, students from all levels of the school come to watch the juniors assemble, explain and execute their roach traps, which are laid out all over campus. They are allowed only two human interventions should something go wrong. In addition to designing, constructing, and demonstrating their trap, each student must provide a log documenting the construction, and a written description of every step of the process that demonstrates a thorough knowledge of the physics of each step. For example, instead of saying ten dominoes fell over, a student will discuss momentum, center of gravity, rotational inertia, Newtons law, Force vectors, friction, and electromagnetic interactions, to name a few.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Education
• Science
• Physics
• Galloway
• School
• Lesson
• Rube
• Goldberg