What is That?? Wednesdays: Mythbusters make a Rube Goldberg Machine

Goooooood morning and welcome to What is THAT?? Wednesdays!!

Have you heard of a Rube Goldberg machine before?  I bet you've seen one even if you don't know the name.  It's a "comically involved, complicated invention, laboriously contrived to perform a simple operation".

Um, what?

Maybe it'll be easier to understand if you watch the Mythbusters make their very own Rube Goldberg machine for Christmas a few years ago:  

So have you seen one before? I usually see them at science museums.  They always amaze me.   

These machines are named after their creator, Rube Goldberg.  He lived from 1883-1970 and was an engineer, a cartoonist, a sculptor, and an artist.  Though he drew a lot of these machines, he never built one.  

Every year, there is an official Rube Goldberg Machine Contest for high school and college students to compete with their own machines.  This year's theme is "Hammer a Nail".

Looks like fun!  If you were going to build a Rube Goldberg machine, what would you make it do?

Love,
Claraboo