Rube Goldberg Machine – Science H 10



A: Speakers emit sound, vibrating the ball off of it.

B: Ball falls down board and through funnel.

C: Elastic spring is pushed by the ball, and launches a toy car down a track.

D: Car knocks over dominos.

E: Domino hits chopstick to release a ball. The ball rolls down the track and hits another chopstick releasing another ball, and then hits another chopstick releasing another ball.

F: Last ball knocks over tower holding ball from rolling, then the ball is released and falls down hill.

G: Ball hits dominos and dominos hit box of cards.

H: Box hits chopstick and pushes up against a tape measure. Tape measure releases and launches back up to the body of the tape measure.

I: Tape measure falls hitting toilet paper roll into garbage.

Forms of Energy:

When radio waves and micro waves are given off of the phone, radiant energy is used. Electrical energy is used to produce sound in the speaker. Sound energy is emitted by the speaker. The ball is at an elevated point and therefor has gravitational energy. The ball rolls down the board using mechanical energy. The HotWheels track has a stretched elastic with elastic energy that slingshots the toy car forward. Mechanical, gravitational, and elastic energy are used throughout the rest of the machine.

Energy Transformations:

Radio waves and micro waves are given off by the phone to the speaker (radiation), the speaker uses electricity to produce the sound. The sound vibrates the ball and pushes it off. The ball falls from a height using gravitational energy and then rolls down the board with mechanical energy. The ball hits the button on the car track, and this releases an elastic which uses elastic energy to push the car into mechanical energy. Mechanical energy is continued to be used until it reaches step E, which uses mechanical and gravitational energy interchangeably.

Science is Magic – The Black Snake



Lab Report:

We researched several different chemical reactions, but eventually settled on The Black Snake. We looked at the components to make sure it wasn’t dangerous, or at least not too dangerous. The Black Snake uses powdered sugar and sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) along with rubbing alcohol. These chemicals aren’t inherently bad, but alcohol fumes can be dangerous. Another danger is when lighting it on fire to commence the reaction, because fire can obviously be dangerous.

To make The Black Snake, you take 4 parts baking soda, and 1 part powdered sugar, and mix it together. Make a vessel out of preferably tinfoil filled with sand. Make a divot in the sand, and pour the mixture into it. Put rubbing alcohol around the edges of the mixture, and a little bit throughout the middle. Use a barbecue lighter to begin the reaction. A snake made of what looks like ash emerges from the white powder mixture. The snake is very light and airy because of gases produced during the experiment. The snake can grow quite long, but doesn’t always.

What is happening is the sugar C12H22O11 combusts and turns into carbon dioxide and water vapour, this decomposition forms the snake. The baking soda is added to help the experiment rise (2NaHCO3 → Na2CO3 + H2O + CO2), just like how it is used in baking. Reactions:

Sugar combusts into water vapour and carbon dioxide: С12H22O11 + 12O2 → 12CO2 + 11H2O

Decomposition into carbon and water vapour: С12H22O11 → 12C + 11H2O

Baking soda decomposes into carbon dioxide, water vapour, and sodium carbonate: 2NaHCO3 → Na2CO3 + CO2 + H2O

The outcome should be a carbon, black snake. It should be light, look and feel like ash, and should be quite delicate. The snake is not edible, you can touch it but it is not recommended. It can be very hot after burning. Best to do in outdoors or under fume hood because of alcohol fumes produced. The snake and all components of experiment can be thrown out in a household garbage.

The experiment can seem magical because when it is growing, it looks as if it is alive and moving, like a snake. It could also possibly look like a plant growing. It’s like creating life because of its natural seeming movement, even though it is just burning, rising chemicals.



Maric, Vladimir, and Teh Jun Yi. “How to Make a Fire Snake from Sugar & Baking Soda.” WonderHowTo, WonderHowTo, 18 Oct. 2017,

“Hooked on Science: ‘Black Snake’ Experiment.”, 3 July 2013,

“Carbon Sugar Snake.” KiwiCo,


Common Names of Some Chemical Compounds,

“Sugar Snake.” MEL Science,

Experiments, Life Hacks &. “How to Make Fire Black Snake? Amazing Science Experiment.” YouTube, YouTube, 17 June 2018,

Data Visualization Infographic – Largest Moons in the Solar System

This Infographic shows the 15 largest moons in our solar system.

I chose to do a drawing/infographic because I love to draw and thought that this project would be a great opportunity to use these skills. I chose to make it based around space because I have always been fascinated by it. I decided to base it on sizes of objects in the solar system, specifically moons. The data table I found gave information on their radius’ (I turned it into diameter in the infographic) and the planet they orbit (+Pluto). I found the project to be a creative and fun way to take data and make it more interesting.