These ideas are GREAT! I really appreciate you guys' help. I'm amazed at the elegance, and they are sparking some of my own ideas, too.
I am not done yet though, so ideas are still MORE than welcome from anyone else.
the red are the holes.
The project requires the use of at least 2 simple machines, and 3 transformations of energy (springs, inclined planes, launchers, etc). A rube Goldberg machine is exactly what we want! The best thing to do is creatively fashion together things or use old parts from toys...
Here's the project:
You have a 60x60x60cm box, and a marble (the material of the marble could be steel, glass, plastic, etc.).
There are 2 holes in the side(s) of the box that are 20cm vertically apart.
The marble must start from the lower hole with basically no velocity, and by any...