Simple Machines

1. 1st Class Levers

1.1. A lever in which the fulcrum is positioned between the load and the effort.

1.2. Example: Teeter Totter

1.3. It is a simple machine

2. 2nd Class Levers

2.1. A lever in which the load lies between the fulcrum and the effort.

2.2. Example: Wheelbarrow

2.3. It is a simple machine

3. Inclined Planes

3.1. A flat supporting surface tilted at an angle, with one end higher than the other.

3.2. Example: Slide

3.3. It is a simple machine

4. Wedge

4.1. A piece of wood, metal, or some other material having one thick end and tapering to a thin edge, that is driven between two objects or parts of an object to secure or separate them.

4.2. Example: Axe

4.3. It is a simple machine

5. Screw

5.1. A short, slender, sharp-pointed metal pin with a raised helical thread running around it and a slotted head, used to join things together by being rotated so that it pierces wood or other material and is held tightly in place.

5.2. Example: Screw

5.3. It is a simple machine

6. Wheel and Axle

6.1. A simple lifting machine consisting of a rope that unwinds from a wheel onto a cylindrical drum or shaft joined to the wheel to provide mechanical advantage.

6.2. Example: Car Axle

6.3. It is a simple machine

7. Work

7.1. Product of the force and the distance over which the force is applied.

7.2. Joules

7.3. Force times distance.

7.4. Example: Lifting a book

7.5. It applies to simple machines in the fact that you need to do work to use a simple machine

8. Power

8.1. The rate of doing work.

8.2. Watts

8.3. Work divided by time.

8.4. Example: How fast you move the book

8.5. It applies to a simple machine in that it measures how much work you do on a simple machine over a amount of time

9. Mechanical Advantage

9.1. The ratio of the force produced by a machine to the force applied to it, used in assessing the performance of a machine.

9.2. There are no units

9.3. Output divided by input or input distance divided by output distance.

9.4. How easy it is for a machine to do work

9.5. It applies to simple machines because it tells you how good a simple machine is at doing something

10. 3rd Class Levers

10.1. A lever in which the effort is placed between the fulcrum and the load

10.2. Example:Base Ball Bat

10.3. It is a simple machine

11. Pulley

11.1. A wheel with a grooved rim around which a cord passes. It acts to change the direction of a force applied to the cord and is chiefly used (typically in combination) to raise heavy weights.

11.2. Example: What's used to open curtains.

11.3. It is a simple machine