course_planning:183_projects:f20_project_13a [Projects & Practices in Physics]

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The Beaumont Tower on MSU's campus bell has been broken and as a fun outreach science experiment you have been tasked to guide some younglings in the development of a Rube Goldberg machine that facilitates the ringing of the bell. 

Your machine design should begin at the bottom of the tower and the final part of the machine should result in the movement of the clapper that rings the bell. The clapper must be moving at 3 m/s the instant before it hits the bell in order for the ding to be audible.

Your machine must include the following 3 events which need to be described via a physical analysis:

1. A spring should be used to launch something

2. There should be a collision

3. There should be an object that is rotating

Each one of these things should be separate and not be dealt with at the same time. They also need to be connected in some way - i.e. the outcome of one part should impact the other. Each interaction should include assumptions, a prediction (mathematical analysis of the physics) and a description of what you are doing and why, justifying your choices. You should aim to do as realistic an analysis as possible and not assume too much.

A good solution is not just equations and numeric predictions, but will include commentary and discussion of those equations and predictions and reflections on what those predictions mean. We encourage you to use the simplest model that correctly captures the essential physics.