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Simple Machines

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473 views16 pages

Simple Machines

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api-176501107
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© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
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Simple Machines

Machines are everywhere


You probably dont even notice how often you use machines in your life. When you zip up your jacket, your zipper is a machine. Washing your hands, the faucet is a machine. Playing hockey or baseball, the stick and bat are machines. Even leaving your house, since the doorknob and door are both machines. There are also more complex machines everywhere, like cars and bicycles, made up of more simple machines.

Force and Work


The study of dynamics is the study of movement. It involves the ideas of force and work. Simple machines are useful because they make work easier. Force is a push or pull. Anything that causes an object to accelerate (move faster or slower) is exerting (using) force. Gravitational, magnetic, and mechanical are types of forces.
Force is measured in newtons.

Work is what we call it when force is applied over a distance. The formula is force x distance = work. Work is a type of energy.
Work is measured in joules.

Remember, an object must move for work to be done. If it doesnt move, the distance = 0, so work also = 0.

Mechanical Advantage
Simple machines make work easier by trading distance for force. For example, do you think youre strong enough to lift a car? You are! Theres a machine called a jack that can help you with that.

The mechanical advantage is a measure of how much easier the machine will make your work.

Simple Machines
There are 6 types of simple machines:

When two or more simple machines are combined, its called a compound machine

Levers
A level is a stiff bar, often made of metal, plastic, or wood. To use a lever, you provide the effort. This may involve pushing, pulling, squeezing, or lifting the bar either side to side or up and down. Whatever object youre trying to do something to provides resistance. You might be trying to cut paper, lift a weight, or crack a nut. They resist (work against) your effort. You push, and the resistance pushes back. The action still requires the same total amount of work, but the lever puts in some so you have to put in less effort.

Levers
There are 3 types of levers. All have a bar, which holds the effort and resistance, and a fulcrum, which supports the lever.

Levers
To figure out how much a lever helps you (the mechanical advantage (MA)), do a little math:
Measure the effort arm (EA), the length from the fulcrum to the effort. Measure the resistance arm (RA), the distance from the fulcrum to the resistance. Divide the EA by the RA to find the MA.

For example, if you use a lever that is 6 feet long, and the fulcrum is two feet from the load, your EA would be 4 feet, and the RA would be 2 feet.
4/2=2 So your work is double as easy when you use the lever!

Remember, the EA needs to be longer than the RA for there to be a mechanical advantage.

Inclined Planes
An inclined plane is a flat surface with one end higher than the other. You use this to move an object up or down. The object moves more distance overall, but its easier to move it up the plane than straight up and down. Think of how its easier to walk up a long, short hill than a short, steep one. A wedge is a type of inclined plane made of two flat slopes, back to back. They can change the direction of your force and move objects apart. For example, if you push down, the wedge pushes sideways.

A screw is a rod (stick) with an inclined plane spiraling around it. This creates a long inclined plane in a very small space, allowing you to do more work with less effort.

Inclined Planes
Calculating the mechanical advantage (MA): First, measure the length of the sloping surface. Then, measure the distance from the ground to the top of the slope to get the height. For a wedge, the height would be the thickness. For a screw, the length would be the distance around. For the height, it would be the thickness. Dividing the length by the height gives the MA.

Wheels and Axles


The wheel is a round disk. The axle is a rod that runs through the center of the wheel. The wheel is attached to the axle. It is probably one of the earliest machines ever used. They help by:
Reducing the force needed (its easier to push a heavy object on wheels than by itself) Moving objects faster (wheels cover more distance more quickly) Reducing friction (an opposing force that slows the object down)

Some wheel and axle systems use a crank on the axle which is a type of lever!

Wheels and Axles


Calculating the mechanical advantage (MA), or how much easier the wheel and axle makes your work, takes a little easy math. Remember, the diameter is the distance across a circle. The radius is the distance from the center to the edge, or half of the diameter (D/2=R). For the machine to work, you (or wind, water, or a motor) apply the effort to either the wheel or the axle. Measure the radius of the piece providing the effort to get the effort radius (ER). The wheel and axle, along with any weight being moved, provide the resistance. The radius of the piece not providing the effort is the resistance radius (RR). Finally, divide the ER by the RR to get the MA.

Wheel and Axle: Gears


Gears are a special type of wheel and axle. In a gear, the wheels have teeth that transfer work from one gear to another. Just like levers and inclined planes use added distance to lower the force needed, gears do, too. They add distance by using different sized gears to make a small amount of effort do lots more work. One gear travels farther in a circle than the other. There are many types of gears, like worm gears, crown gears, rack and pinion gears, sprocket gears, and spur gears.

Pulleys
Pulleys are similar to wheels and axles in how they do work. A simple pulley system is made up of a rope or cable that moves around a freely rotating wheel. It changes the direction of the force, but does not provide any mechanical advantage. The effort needed to lift an object is equal to the weight of the object.

In order to gain mechanical advantage, a compound pulley system is needed.

Pulleys
In a compound pulley system, mechanical advantage exists because there are more pulleys. This increases the number of loops in the string or cable, adding distance. As we know, adding distance decreases the force needed to do work.

Test Yourself
Now that youve learned about the 6 basic types, test your understanding of them. Click HERE to take the EdHeads simple machine challenge.

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