In high school, I took a physics class where we did a Rube Goldberg experiment. Everyone in the class did this by splitting up into groups and coming up with ideas for our projects. In simple terms, a rube goldberg project is something that takes many actions, to come out with one final action. Often the many actions use simple machines/tools (such as a wheel, wedge, weight, levy, etc.) to help produce your final end result.

(Our group, by the way, made up of Wilson Wise, David Townsend, and Amanda Gibbs (maybe?) put together a rube goldberg where the final result was to open a PEZ dispenser). It was fun, I think.)

When put to music, and done all in one take — wow! –  you can get a great result! See this video from the band Ok Go. (This video, at the time of the posting, out after only 2 months has received about 13 million views on youtube. That is pretty outstanding!)

To learn more about the American cartoonist Rube Goldberg and how these fun projects have come to be known as “Rube Goldberg Experiments,” see the Rube Goldberg Wikipedia page.