Middleburgh Central School District physics students won multiple awards at the Rube Goldberg Machine Contest at Tech Valley High School on March 29.
“A Rube Goldberg Machine® is made from found or discarded household items. These contraptions come from landfill, rather than contributing to it and are essentially green machines,” according to the Rube Goldberg Institute of Innovation and Creativity.
Physics teacher Cyrus Rivet organized this opportunity for students. The competition required teams of students to build a machine that would assemble a Lunchable in the least efficient way possible. Students had to calculate the transfer for each step of their machine, the efficiency and the power their machine generated. Students worked on their machines for over a month while connecting this project to real-world energy issues. MCS students were the only team at the competition that had their machine work on the first attempt.
“I am so proud of the work these students put into this challenging project,” said Rivet. “It asked a lot in terms of calculations, teamwork, creativity and patience, but the students rose to the occasion. I would also like to thank Tech Valley High School for hosting us for a second year; we hope to keep the tradition going!”
The MSC team won “Best Overall” and “Most Aesthetically Pleasing” awards and got to take home the Albert Einstein trophy, which will stay at Middleburgh until next year’s competition.
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