...after the energy you put into the Rube Goldberg style
chain of systems dissipates the energy at every step.
1- You swing the massive heavy mallet that drives a
heavy
weight up a pole.
2- As the weight slides down the pole, it engages an
electric generator.
3- That electric generator
powers a motor turning a
turbine that pushes water through a tube.
4- The water going through that tube rises up and turns a
water wheel.
5- That water wheel powers a catapult that launches
balls
at a target on the back of a hammer that's hanging right
in
front of the wine glass.
Although more than enough energy was put into the
system
to smash the wine glass, a heavy ten pound mallet was
slammed into the activator target on a table with enough
force to smash dozens of wine glasses, the inefficiency of
each step eventually dissipates all that force till the final
step, the balls hitting the hammer result in nothing more
than a gentle swing of the hammer, perhaps just tapping
it
gently.
Demonstrate how systems loose energy the more steps
you
put into them in a fun, interactive way for the kids.
Those are just a couple of ideas for steps between the
initial activation and the final mechanism, but you'd have
as many different methods of transmitting energy as
possible. Mechanical, electrical, hydraulic, kinetic, even
light, heat and sound. The generator powers a light that
activates a solar cell that turns a fan that blows a wind
turbine that vibrates a speaker that shakes wave
machine that powers a... something or another.