Make a Pinball Machine

 In a Pinball Machine there are 3 different forces acting on the ball inside. The pinball machine is kept at an angle so gravity causes the ball to roll downwards towards the flippers. When the ball hits the flippers, or any of the obstacles in the pinball machine, contact force will cause the ball to change direction and then the third force that is acting on the ball is friction. The friction between the ball and the cardboard box causes the ball to roll rather than slide across the surface.

The first thing that we are going to do is make the flippers for your pinball machine. To do this we are going to cut a small slit out of each side of the show box. We are then going to cut a rectangle of card from some thick corrugated cardboard. You should be able to get this from some packaging. You want to make sure that the corrugations are facing downwards along the long side of the rectangle. We are then going to use a cocktail stick and push the cocktail stick through the corrugation and then into the slit in the side of the shoebox. You can then tape it in place

You should be able to move these cardboard flippers twisting on the cocktail stick. The next thing that you are going to do is start to design the obstacles inside the pinball machine. To do this you may like to use a range of different things. You may want to play around with different designs. You can use the milk bottle tops, straws, lolly sticks and card to make some obstacles inside your pinball machine. You can also use your colouring pens/ pencils/ crayons to decorate your pinball machine.

You are now ready to drop in your marble and test your pinball machine. I hope that you have fun!

The video tutorial for this activity is available on the Surrey Libraries Facebook Page or the Surrey Libraries YouTube Channel