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Simple Machines Study Guide

This document provides an overview of simple machines including the 6 types: lever, pulley, wheel and axle, inclined plane, wedge, and screw. It describes each machine's basic components and how they provide mechanical advantages such as increasing applied force or distance of movement. Levers are classified by their fulcrum location and examples are given. Pulleys can be fixed or movable, with compound pulleys providing both direction change and increased mechanical advantage.

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R Mathew
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332 views2 pages

Simple Machines Study Guide

This document provides an overview of simple machines including the 6 types: lever, pulley, wheel and axle, inclined plane, wedge, and screw. It describes each machine's basic components and how they provide mechanical advantages such as increasing applied force or distance of movement. Levers are classified by their fulcrum location and examples are given. Pulleys can be fixed or movable, with compound pulleys providing both direction change and increased mechanical advantage.

Uploaded by

R Mathew
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Simple Machines Study Guide

● 6 simple machines: 1) lever, 2) pulley 3) wheel and axle, 4) inclined plane, 5) wedge, 6)
screw
● Complex machines have motors in which some of the parts may be simple machines
● A mechanical advantage lets us increase the amount of force we can apply
● 2 advantages to simple machines: 1) Use less effort (force) over a longer distance, and
2) Use more effort over a shorter distance

Levers​​:
● A lever is a simple machine
● A lever is a beam that pivots at a fixed point (fulcrum)
● Examples of lever: scissors, crowbar, see saw

Classes of Levers:
● Class 1 - the fulcrum is located somewhere between the effort and the load (see saw,
scissors, crowbar)
● Class 2 - the fulcrum is at one end of the lever arm (wheelbarrow, bottle opener, nut
cracker)
● Class 3 - the fulcrum is at one end, and the effort is applied between the fulcrum and the
load (fishing pole, baseball bat, tweezers)

Pulleys:
● A pulley is a grooved wheel that is free to turn on an axle and holds a rope, cord, or
chain.
● The wheel is called a sheave
● The sheave is grooved to hold a rope, cord, or chain in place
● Pulleys can be fixed or movable
● A fixed pulley offers NO mechanical advantage
● A movable pulley is attached to the load
● One end is attached to a fixed surface high overhead. The other end of the rope goes
down, through the pulley attached to the load and then back to the top.
● This gives a mechanical advantage because the load is supported by rope on both sides
of the pulley, you only need half the effort.
● A ​compound ​pulley is a pulley with a fixed ​and m​ ovable pulley.
● The rope runs up the the fixed pulley, down and around the movable pulley and back up
to where it is attached.
● You gain a mechanical advantages AND a change of direction of effort.
● It allows you to pull down to move up, meaning you need half the effort
● Called a ​block and tackle​​, the pulles are the block and the rope, cord or chain is the
tackle.
Wheel and Axle:

● Sometimes called a “lever in the round” or a “rotating lever”


● Can be a wheel with an axle or a bar that rotates around an axis
● The center of the circle is the ​fulcrum
● Effort is applied to the wheel turns the axle, or effort applied to the axle turns the wheel
● The wheel and axle ​move​​ ​together
● A point on the wheel always moves farther than a point on the axle, but the axle moves
with greater force
● A wheel and axle can produce a gain in effort or distance, depending on how it is used
● Examples: a wrench turning a bolt, a windlass (the wrench that lifts the bucket from a
well), front of a tricycle, key to a music box

Inclined Planes:
● A sloped flat surface (ramp)
● A gain in effort when lifting a load, the cost is distance
● Used to move things up
● A short plan has a steep angle
● The longer the inclined plane, the less effort you need. This means you move it a longer
distance.

Wedges:
● The wedge is a kind of inclined plane
● It is two inclined planes put back to back
● An inclined plane cannot move, but a wedge can
● The wedge changes the direction of force. When you push forward, the inclined planes
of the wedge push up and down or side to side.
● Some example of wedges: a door stop; a chisel; ends of needles, pins and nails; the
ends of cutting tools like axes and knives. A bow of a ship acts as a wedge to cut
through the water.

Screws:
● A kind of inclined plane
● A screw is an inclined plane spiraled around an axis or cylinder.
● Some have a ridge wound around the central cylinder (machine screw). Others have
more space between the threads (wood screw)
● Screws change the direction of effort.
● The circular motion of making the screw go into the wood is turned into a forward motion.
(examples: a fan, a boat propeller)
● Screws can be used to gain a mechanical advantage. Jackscrews are used to lift a
house to repair the foundation, or lift a car to change a tire.

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