In this project my partners and I worked together to design a machine the contained 3 different simple machines and that was able to lift approximately 30 Newtons (an average backpack) at least 1 foot into the air. We first sketched different designs that we all had, and then compared our ideas. We had to come up with an idea that only used mechanical power (no motors, electricity, etc.) and the mechanical advantage had to be grater than 1, but less than 10.
Our Final Design
We combined a 1st-class lever, block and tackle pulley system, and a wheel and axel.
My team and I were easily able to collaborate and work together. We had many similar ideas and worked together to combine them all into one. Sometimes we would all work on separate parts of the project, and sometimes we would work on the same thing all together, which is one way we could have managed our time more efficiently. Overall our time management was very good, we were never rushing or worrying about the time. One thing we did struggle with was the logistics of building the machine. We had many good ideas, but sometimes struggled with how we would actually be able to work it out. We had to redesign/discuss our initial design due to factors like friction, limited materials, and material type. We struggled with friction due to the string of the pulley system rubbing against the metal parts of the lever. The limited materials caused us to come up with new ways to create/attach a pulley system to a lever. Due to most of the material being metal, some of the pieces were bent/misshapen, which caused our percent efficiency to decrease. Finally being able to build the simple machines made it much easier to understand IMA and AMA. It was difficult to understand the wheel and axel mechanical advantage, but after seeing/building it myself, the concept was much easier to grasp.