The Inefficient Engine
By Adam Lindsey
Nick Casamatta
Dustin 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