After completing your SMET project comment on the following:
1. Do you feel that you have a better understanding of the six simple machines after completing the project?
2. Explain mechanical advantage.
3. What is the difference between Ideal Mechanical Advantage and Actual Mechanical Advantage?
4. Did you have an adequate amount of time to complete the project?
5. If there were one thing you would change about the project, what would it be?
6. In your opinion, what was the most difficult aspect of the project? Explain.
1. I feel like i now have a greater understanding of the six simple machines we learned. I learned of many different kinds of machines as i researched. I also learned about the specific jobs that they each can do. Now when i see a simple machine i can point it out and also calculate its mechanical advantage. I feel learning this will have a positive effect on me.
ReplyDeleteI like golfers
Delete1) Yes, I do feel that I have a better understanding of the six simple machines. I feel like this because we had to look in depth at all the simple machines to determine possible uses. For instance, we learned about the three different class levers, and how they could be used. We learned more about screws and how we could use them in different ways to be incorporated into our design. We also discovered what simple machines might be difficult to use or potentially ineffective to the overall goal. All in all though, we gained hands on experience that was very useful.
ReplyDelete2) Mechanical advantage is the ratio of the resistance and effort forces. In other words, it is how strong or heavy something is over the effort it takes you to move or manipulate it. If the calculated mechanical advantage is greater than one, then less force is required to overcome the resistance force, and therefore, more distance is gained. If it is less than one, then more force is required to overcome the resistance and less distance is gained. Mechanical advantages help designers to manipulate things like the speed, distance, force, and function of various devices.
3) The difference between Ideal Mechanical Advantage and Actual Mechanical Advantage is an important one. The Ideal Mechanical Advantage, (or IMA,) is a theoretical calculation that is the distance traveled by effort over the resistance force. In this calculation, no friction is factored in. The Actual Mechanical Advantage, (or AMA,) is the magnitude of the resistance force over the magnitude of the effort force. This is not theoretical and takes friction into account. Both of these are very important and are used to help designers take things and potentially make them better.
4) I felt that overall that we did in fact have an adequate amount of time to complete the project. The original idea that my group tried to work on did not work, so we had to scrap it and come up with a new idea. Even though we did that, we still had enough time to complete the project. So maybe if anything, we had a bit too much time. One thing that should be done is to have one day that is dedicated solely to working on the projects when they are all lined up in order. Hopefully, that could help work out any possible kinks and lead to a more fluid moving overall project.
5) If there was one thing I could change about the project, I would have liked to use better materials or at least have access to them. It proved challenging to try and attempt to create a strong structure using flimsy cardboard and tape. Plus, we often ran out of hot glue and various things like the band saw were not working. This proved actually to be one of our greatest challenges because we needed something sturdy that could hold enough weight to stand three feet in the air. Plus, when we were able to use the hot glue or a tool, there was often a long waiting time before another group was done with it.
6) To me, the hardest parts of the project were either finding adequate materials, or having to revamp ideas as we found them ineffective or unable to be completed. Again, it was hard to create a feasible project using the cardboard and various other things strewn about the classroom. On top of that, managing to find places to hide materials from other classes proved a bit challenging. As far as changing ideas, we had to maybe change the functionality of each simple machine at least once. When we realized we could not accomplish the desired goal for that simple machine, we had to find a different way to either create it or a different method of using it, which wasted time.
Yes, i now understand how the simple michines work. this project was fun. i now know not only how they work but how they work with eachother. The ideal mechanical advantage is the mechanical advantage of an ideal machine. The actual mechanical advantage is the mechanical advantage of a real machine. Actual mechanical advantage takes into consideration real world factors such as energy lost in friction. yes, even though only two thirds of my group was here most days, we were able to work together and get the project done, with a day to write the report.at the begining of the project we made a time schedual and stuck to it the whole way. if i could change one thing about the project, i would probably use better materials because we used alot of tape and our final prouct looked really stupid. the most difficult part of the project was the report and finding all the IMAs and AMAs. over all the project was fun
ReplyDeleteShane Buchanan
ReplyDelete1) I do feel that I now have a better understanding of the simple machines. Before I did not know how some machines worked. For instance I did not know how a wedge would work. But now I do understand how the wedge works. I also now know how to calculate things for each machine.
2) The mechanical advantage is how much easier a machine makes the work. You find mechanical advantage with a simple formula. The formula is resistance force divide by effort force. There are two types of mechanical advantage. Ideal mechanical advantage and actual mechanical advantage.
3) The ideal mechanical advantage does not take into account friction. The actual mechanical advantage does. If your system is 100% efficient than the actual mechanical advantage will equal the ideal mechanical advantage. The ima is also calculated with distance. But the ama is calculated with force.
4) Yes we had enough time to complete the project. In fact we were one of the first groups done with the project. The project was easy to make and was put together quickly. There was about 3-4 classes before we to put the projects together. The group worked efficiently and fast.
5) I if I could change one thing, it would be the amount of work the report took. The report was extremely long and said the same thing in some spots. I would also like to pick my own partners next time. I would do this because groups can be bad if you don’t have the right people. That is what I would change about the project.
6) I feel the most difficult aspect was making sure everything worked together. You needed each piece to fit together and work perfectly so your project would work. Also the groups needed to make sure the projects went to each other. This was hard because the groups needed to communicate together. Those were the hardest things I felt about the project.
1. I feel like I have a better understanding of simple machines. I Understand the different ways all the simple machines can be used. this project also helped me to understand how to calculate the mechanical advantage of simple machines.
ReplyDelete2. Mechanical advantage is how well the simple machine that you are using works. Mechanical advantage can be calculated in both ideal and actual mechanical advantage. Ideal is how well the simple machine would work under ideal conditions. Actual Mechanical advantage is how well the simple machine works when it has different forces acting upon it. these forces inclued gravity and friction
3. There are many differences between ideal and actual mechanical advantage. Ideal mechanical advantage is how well the simple machin works under ideal condition. This means there are no forces acting upon it. Actual mechanical advantage is how well the simple machine works with forces acting on it like friction and gravity.
4. We did have an adequate amount of time to complete the project. Although we had to work fast we still had enough time to get everything done and get our projects together. We also had time after getting our projects together to trouble shoot the problems we had transitioning from one project to the next.
5. If I could change one thing about this project I would let people pick their own groups. If people can pick their own groups they may be more productive and get more done, than if they were in groups they did not like.
6. The most difficult part of this project was trying to find a way to pass the marble from one group to the next. All the groups were changing their projects. We had to know how each group was starting and finishing and without knowing that we couldn't finish our project because it probably wouldn't fit with what the next group had done.
1. Yes, I do feel like I have a better understanding of the simple machines. Making them gave me hands on experience on how they work and can be incorporated into compound machines. For instance, the first class pulley could be hooked up to a third class lever to lift it enough to allow a marble to roll down the screw. But, we also experienced how the machines don’t work when put together. The project was very helpful in gaining an understanding of the six simple machines and how they can be used together and separately.
ReplyDelete2. Mechanical advantage is the ratio of the magnitude of resistance to effort forces. It is also the ratio of the distance traveled by the effort and resistance forces. If the mechanical advantage is greater than one, less force and a greater effort distance are required to overcome the resistance force. If the mechanical advantage is less than one, the distance is needed is shorter and more force is required to overcome the resistance force. Using mechanical advantage, designers can manipulate speed, distance, function, and force.
3. Ideal Mechanical Advantage (IMA) is the ratio of distance traveled by effort to resistance force. IMA does not take friction loss into consideration; therefore it is a theory-based calculation. Actual Mechanical Advantage (AMA) is the ratio of resistance to effort forces. Since AMA does take friction into consideration; it is considered an inquiry-based calculation. Both AMA and IMA are used by designers to develop the best piece possible.
4. I think it was an adequate amount of time. Some groups probably needed a little more time, while others had too much time. So, overall, it was a good average of the time needed. I think one day should be devoted to testing all of the groups together before they are graded as a class. I know the first few groups were able to test together, but the entire class wasn’t able to until it counted. If we had tested beforehand, we probably would have been able to do the whole thing without a problem.
5. I would have wanted to pick our own groups. When you know the people you’re working with, you know what each other is good at. It could be using the band saw, using tape (“tape engineer”), using electronics, etc. When you know someone’s strong-suit, you can utilize it better than if you find out about it half way through the project. Also, this was the first big project we did, so it would be better to be comfortable with the people in your group from the start so you can get a better feel of the project and where everything is in the classroom, then save the random groups for later in the year when you know how things work.
6. Getting all of the pieces to work together every time was the most difficult aspect of the project, at least for my group. One minute everything would work great and the next the level would not move enough, the car wouldn’t stay still, and the wedge would make the marble fall backwards instead of forward into the next group’s pulley. Almost every test run would have a different result, which was both irritating and unreliable, which is not a good thing when you’re being graded on the outcome. Maybe if we had different materials to work with than the results would be better. Also, the group before us would have issues that would affect the results of our project.
Andy Farrell
ReplyDeleteBesler Tech Blog
1) Do you feel that you have a better understanding of the six simple machines after completing the project? Yes, I definitely understand the six simple machines much better. Before doing this project I couldn’t even name of all six simple machines on my own, but now I can. I also feel that this project displayed how many possibilities and options you have for incorporating simple machines into a design. Simple machines can be used in almost every project to make things easier. Overall, having knowledge of simple machines is a powerful tool to have.
2) Explain mechanical advantage. Mechanical advantage is how much the simple machine multiplies the force put into it. In other words, it will make things easier if the MA is over 1. If a lever has a mechanical advantage of 3 then the work you do by operating that lever will feel 3 times as easy. There are also situations where MA makes things harder. In this case it will be less than 1. You would really only want MA less than 1 if you were using some sort of weightlifting equipment.
3) What is the difference between Ideal Mechanical Advantage and Actual Mechanical Advantage? IMA is a theoretical value while AMA is an actual real life value. You want to try and get as close to the IMA as possible, because that means the simple machine will be very efficient. Also, IMA uses distances while AMA uses things measured in pounds. The big difference is that AMA takes into account friction, which is why it will always be less than IMA. These calculated values will help you make a better, more efficient product.
4) Did you have an adequate amount of time to complete the project? I felt that the time we were given to complete the project was right on the money. I think there was a reasonable amount of time given so that no one would be finished early and doing nothing. However, it would have been nice to give us a little more time when we were putting the projects together. The individual time was perfect but I think a little more time to put all of the projects together would’ve been nice. If we had been given more time for that then the overall SMET project would have worked I think.
5) If there were one thing you would change about the project, what would it be? If I had to change would thing about this project I think I would definitely make the final result more exciting. Doing an entire project just to raise a flag isn’t very dramatic. I think if we dropped a vinyl disk onto a turntable that played some Hendrix would be awesome. Who doesn’t want to be rocking out to some Spanish Castle Magic after they just finished an SMET project? I certainly want to. But overall everything else in this project was pretty good.
6) In your opinion, what was the most difficult aspect of the project? Explain. I think the hardest part of the project was starting it off. Once we got going it was fairly easy but the planning was pretty hard because we had so many options and we didn’t know what to do. It was hard to visualize in the beginning what would go where and what dimensions things needed. I’m not sure if other people feel this way, but I can’t really visualize a final product if it’s really complicated in my head. However, we got started and then things just fell into place.
Olivia Poppel-
ReplyDelete1. Yes I do feel like I have a better understanding of the six simple machines. By doing this project you got to apply your own knowledge and creativity in connecting each simple machine. By visually seeing how each individual machine works, makes it easier to understand. This project also allowed you to see problems and details needed in order to make simple machines function. Now I realize the amount of work needed to construct simple machines and form them into a combination of simple machines.
2. Mechanical advantage how much a machine reduces the amount of work needed to complete a task. Mechanical advantage can be calculated to in different ways for different simple machines. There are two types of mechanical advantages. Ideal mechanical advantage is one and the other is actual mechanical advantage. Mechanical advantage allows you to use less force. This can be done by using one or more of the six simple machines.
3. Ideal Mechanical advantage is the mechanical advantage of an ideal machine. Actual mechanical advantage is the mechanical advantage of a real machine. Actual mechanical advantage takes real world factors into consideration. It is calculated using force resistance and force effort. Ideal mechanical advantages are more theoretical. It is calculated by using effort distance and effort resistance.
4. I do not believe we had an adequate amount of time to complete this project. The amount of time we had was perfect to complete our own project as well as combine our project with the others of the class. The amount of time given was needed in order to complete the SMET write up as well. Each group also needed time to make multiple test runs in order to guarantee a successful outcome. After test runs, changes or tweaks needed to be made.
5. If there was one thing I could change about the project it would be picking our groups. I understand an individual needs to be able to work with various types of people. On second thought, when creating a multiple step project, cooperation with your group members is needed. My group experienced trouble in everyone doing a fair share of the work. Picking our own groups would have affected the project outcome in my opinion.
6. The most difficult part of this project was making sure each test run was successful. In order to have our combination of the simple machines work, every part had to be perfect. Sometimes one little part would not line up correctly and the next action would not be triggered. Also you have to depend on the project before yours to work successfully in order for yours to work. Not all the groups were reliable in this sense.
Tim Hartwell
ReplyDelete1. Do you feel that you have a better understanding of the six simple machines after completing the project?
Yes I believe I better understand how the 6 simple machines come together to do a complex task
2. Explain mechanical advantage.
Mechanical advantage is how much the simple machine multiplies the force put into it.
3. What is the difference between Ideal Mechanical Advantage and Actual Mechanical Advantage?
IMA is a theoretical value while AMA is an actual real life value.
4. Did you have an adequate amount of time to complete the project?
Yes we had a reasonable amount of time to build the project
5. If there were one thing you would change about the project, what would it be?
I would have assigned jobs to people in groups like designer builder material finder
6. In your opinion, what was the most difficult aspect of the project? Explain.
Trying to share ideas to make the project work and the communication between groups on how high or low their project is beginning and or ending.
Mark Baker
ReplyDelete1) Yes, after this project I had a much better understanding of the six simple machines. We had to think hard about what the simple machines are and how we could incorporate them into our project. Before the project I had a very broad understanding of the simple machines but now I have a more in depth understanding. This problem also helped me with calculating mechanical advantage which I did not understand before this project.
2) Mechanical advantage is the ratio of the magnitude of resistance to effort forces and the ratio of the distance traveled by the effort and resistance forces. When the mechanical advantage is greater than one, less force is needed to overcome the resistance force. When the mechanical advantage is less than one, more force is needed to overcome the resistance force.
3) Ideal Mechanical Advantage is the ratio of distance traveled by effort to resistance force. IMA does not take friction loss into consideration so it is a calculation for what would happen in a perfect world. Actual Mechanical Advantage is the ratio of resistance to effort forces. AMA however does take friction into consideration.
4) Yes we had plenty of time to complete the project. Some of the calculations had to be done at home but we had enough time to complete the project in class. We also had enough time to combine our projects with other groups and make sure they worked before the final test. I think we had a perfect amount of time to complete the project.
5) I wish there were more materials in the classroom to use. The materials we had were pretty limited which required us to build our project mainly out of kinex and tape. It also limited the variation in the projects unless people brought things from home. I think more materials would have made the projects more interesting and complex.
6) The most difficult aspect was coming up with how we were going to incorporate the six simple machines into our project. It looked good on paper but finding the materials to make the simple machines was hard which caused us to change the design of or project multiple times. Other than that, the project was for the most part easy and fun.
Jordan Nichols
ReplyDelete1.) Yes i have a better understanding of the six simple machines now. After building each machine individually and putting them to work together i understand what each one does. Also after doing many calculations, i understand how to determine needed calculations and what they mean.
2.) Mechanical Advantage is a calculation of how much easier it is for the machine to accomplish the task. Mechanical Advantage is calculated by different formulas for each machine. The two types of Mechanical Advantage are ideal and actual.
3.) Ideal and Actual mechanical advantage is different as IMA deals with distance of forces and AMA deals with the friction of forces. IMA is a theory based calculation as AMA is the actual real life machine calculation.
4.)We had plenty of time to complete the project. There was enough time in class to build our entire project and figure out any problems among group members when it came to calculations.
5.)If I could change one thing about the project, I would make it so each project had to accomplish a task. The accomplishment of this task could trigger the next project. It would be more exciting for each project to do an interesting task rather than just transferring marbles.
6.)The most difficult part of the project was the calculations. It was difficult to accurately measure pieces after they were already attatched to the project. It would have been alot easier to do calculations at the beginning of the project.
1.I do feel that I have a better grasp on the use of simple machine’s because it really helps when you put them into use in something because it’s real not like when it’s just on paper. Before this I knew about simple machines but didn’t really appreciate them because I never had to use them. With this project though I really had to challenge myself in order to make the simple machines work the way that I wanted them too.
ReplyDelete2. Mechanical advantage is the amount that the machine makes the work easier. Using a simple formula you can find the mechanical advantage of a simple machine. The formula is resistance force/effort force.
3. Ideal mechanical advantage is what would happen without friction and actual mechanical advantage also takes into account the friction of the system. If the system has 100% efficiency than your mechanical advantages are equal. The ideal mechanical uses distance to calculate mechanical advantage where the actual uses force to calculate it.
4. I don’t think we had enough time to do all aspects of the project well but to get by yes we had enough time. It would have been nice to have more time to try our projects with the other groups. The project was fairly difficult to make but once you got a good idea for it, it wasn’t that hard to put together. If we could’ve gotten the projects done quicker so that we had more time to test them I think it would’ve worked better. It would’ve been better if we had set aside time just for testing the project.
5. If there was one thing I could change it would be picking my own partners. I think that it helps when you pick your own partners because you can’t out the blame on anyone in particular if your project goes wrong. This way everyone works quicker and more efficiently. I would also change the materials that were accessible. We really didn’t know what we could use and you really had to scrap to find materials that you could use.
6. I think the most difficult part of the project was getting everything to work together. This was seen on two levels, in between each other’s projects and within your own also. Everything needs to fit together and work flawlessly in order to get the flag up at the end. In your own project, if the marble doesn’t get to the end, then the entire project falls apart. If the marble doesn’t transfer right between two groups then the project falls apart again because it can’t get to the end.
1. Yes I feel that I have a better understanding of the six simple machines after completing this project. We had to use a more extensive knowledge of the simple machine’s uses in a system. We had to learn how to calculate mechanical advantage and how different forces are taken into effect.
ReplyDelete2. Mechanical advantage is the ratio of the magnitude of the resistance and effort forces or the ratio of the distance traveled by the effort and resistance forces. The calculated ratios allow designers to manipulate speed, distance, force, and function. If the ma is 4, this tells us that the effort force magnitude is 4 times less than the magnitude of the resistance force. It also tells us that the effort force travels 4 times greater than the resistance force.
3. Ideal mechanical advantage (IMA) is a theory based calculation in which friction and weight is not taken into account. It has to do with the distance traveled by the effort force over the distance traveled by the resistance force. Actual mechanical advantage(AMA) is an inquiry-based calculation in which friction and weight is taken into account. It has to do with the magnitude of the resistance force over the magnitude of the effort force.
4. I think we had an adequate amount of time to complete the project. We had to start over multiple times due to ideas not working but we still had enough. If anything, we had more than enough time to complete this.
5. If there was one thing i could change, it would be that we had a greater access to materials. Also, the project may have worked better if there had been fewer groups to compensate for. We didn’t have enough sturdy materials to make our stand for our flag. We had to bring things in from home.
6. the most difficult part of our project was gaining the right materials to make our project work. Also, we had to work to make our project work with the other groups. It was also difficult to come up with ideas. We had a few ideas that didn’t work and we had to entirely start from scratch.
1. I feel that having a physical exercise is the best way to understand the six simple machines. It is all well and good to tell about the math but actually seeing it is far more useful in learning the basics. Especially with the levers because of the idea that there are 3 types. It is far easier to see what they look like on paper than in real life and hence the real experience is needed.
ReplyDelete2. Mechanical advantage is how well a simple machine does at making a job easier. For example, the use of a pulley or inclined plane is far easier than just trying to lift a heavy object straight up. It is also much easier to roll something on wheels than to drag it on the ground. And we can use math to determine how well they work.
3. Ideal mechanical advantage assumes that there is no gravity or friction. Actual mechanical advantage takes these things into account and also the specific amount of weight and friction of a given situation.
4. My group got done with the project relatively quickly so I would say we had plenty of time. However, some of the other groups did take substantially longer and I found myself trying to help them in order to get them done on time. It worked out in the end though so I would say we definitely had plenty of time.
5. For me the most difficult part was the write up and the math. I love working with my hands and this made the paperwork look even more boring so it took me awhile to get done. However I did get it done and it is not like the paperwork was difficult as it was tedious.