K'NEX Rollercoaster!--Is It Art or Engineering?

Had me worried at first this might have been a Fukishima glowing ball!!!! Thanks for the heart attack!!!

I have had people ask me if the ball is hollow, but this video dispels all myths.

Great project....can you tell us about the electrical components used, and go into as much detail as you can....Thanks

Oh and can you tell us how you manage such a good youtube video production?

Solar Eagle, I used two blue K'NEX motors to lift the ball up the hill. Here is a link to buy them.

I made the video using my iPhone 6s+ and iMovie on my mac.

Please reply with any other questions about the components used or my production methods.

Yes, I also can give you another "way to go" for this project. Keep up the good work! And by the way, keep studying your chemistry and physics, and dive deep every chapter. Find more books with parallel material to study, and you will master all of it!

Do you recommend any specific parallel material?

No, but if in high school, pick up a copy of a college general chemistry text, and maybe physics 101, to expand your horizons a bit.

If already college level, then pick up the references at the ends of the chapters and explore away!

I am in 10th grade and am in "Chemistry Honors".

I spent most of my 10th grade (and the 6 or so before it) on a different set of student classification lists.

I remember being in 4th grade playing with tinker toys. By the time I was in 10th grade I was building i.c.e. powered vehicles. Maybe nowadays playing with 4th grader toys like k nex are a sign of advanced intelligence.

You now know my secret.

You try a copy of Morrison & Boyd if that is still in print, Organic Chemistry. A lot has been learned about "green chemistry" since I learned from that tome many years ago.

Always fun to see other peoples creations!

I was a Lego Technics guy back in my youth. ( ~1980 - mid 90's)

One of my most complex creations was a 4 legged walking robot of sorts. Just two motors and a lot of gears and crankshafts but it could walk forward backward and make turns on the go.

Also built a two legged one that I almost perfected all mechanical gyroscopic stabilization on but unfortunately I ran out of gears and other parts before I got it to work properly. You can only go so far with Lego tires as axis control friction drive clutches and two 4.5 volt Lego motors for power.

I always felt that if I had just had one or two more of the larger sets from the technics series and another motor or two I could have done it but nobody wanted to fund my Lego obsessions (or let me spend my own money on them either) because they felt 'it was not doing me any good and I needed to focus on what I wanted to do in my life' rather than play with my toys. WTF? I was frigging mad scientist mechanical/electrical engineer at age 14! What more was there to be in life?

Still kind of think that had they indulged me a bit more back then I could have been the equivalent to Elon Musk and then some by now.

...and Ladies and Gentlemen, that is why tcmtech burns tires in anguish to this day, LOL!

It would be a consensus on cr4 that this young man has some impressive building, engineering skills. He has shown intelligence and good linguistic skills (a breath of fresh air). But I am really impressed with his videography skills. His video's seem to get better every time.

Maker, have you ever considered that you may have a future in the motion picture industry? There are many engineering positions in motion pictures.

I think you have talent, it may take you anywhere you want to go.

Keep your mind open, and keep impressing us with your video's.

Good luck young man.

Hollywood could use more engineering based historical interpretation. Too bad that so much (everything) is CG.

..Maker. you're making the best of everything available to you. We all are wishing we had the tools available to you. Your enthusiasm is not something you can learn or teach someone to have. Enjoy

Thank you, JE in Chicago.

Thank you JPool, your comment really touched me.

Great stuff, keep up the excellent work, and as your creativity illustrates, Art and Engineering do not have to be mutually exclusive!!

The very best engineering is always a work of art on some level......

Far from it, Good Art is Engineered, and good Engineering is Art!

"...Art and Engineering do not have to be mutually exclusive!"

RAMConsult is correct.

Think Leonardo daVinci! Artist, scientist, engineer.

This was my thinking exactly.

Engineering doesn't have to be ugly:

...only sometimes it just is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqtJCwK8G8M

These may provide further inspiration.

I have seen the first video before, but not the second. I wonder how long the second video took to animate.

Both are actual functioning machines and the 2nd is operated as an ad for Intel Processors.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toXNVbvFXyk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4hjx3_A-cw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rc-bgMijF14

You have seen this one I expect.

Those two gadgets are just insanely beautifully made, and I dig it!

It would be really cool if this machine actually produced something, and you could tell if everything was functioning properly just by listening to the music....although it's true that some processes can be judged by sound, I can't think of any that would be this delightful....

Make a candy dispenser out of it, and send it to the Pacific Islands, so the native peoples will think the gods have sent

down another load of Spam.

Your question precludes the possibility that it can be both art and engineering, or that it falls into neither category. In a court of law your question would be ruled inadmissible as it is "leading the witness".

That is a quality answer.

Here is a construction time lapse of the above video.