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Simple Machine Scavenger Hunt” ● Ask Students to Complete the Sheet at Home with Their Worksheet Parents Exploring Their Own Neighbourhood

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Simple Machine Scavenger Hunt” ● Ask Students to Complete the Sheet at Home with Their Worksheet Parents Exploring Their Own Neighbourhood Move It! If you hear the word technology, what image does it bring to mind? Your smartphone? The computer that you use to send email? The special effects in the movie you saw last week? Today, technology is all of those things and more, but it isn’t just limited to the latest and greatest gadget or toy that everyone wants to have and use. The earliest forms of technology were tools such as inclined planes, levers and wedges – simple machines that are still used today. Background Information The Oxford dictionary defines technology as “the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes,” and also as “machinery and devices developed from scientific knowledge”. All the modern technology that you know and love fits easily into these definitions but so does the technology used by your ancestors thousands of years ago. Your ancestors used technology to help them build great structures or transport heavy loads from one town to another. It helped them figure out how to get water from a well or how to hoist a sail on their ships so they could sail away and explore the world! The Six Types of Simple Machines A simple machine is a non-powered mechanical device that changes the direction or the magnitude of a force. Simple machines can be classified into six types: the lever, the inclined plane, the wedge, the pulley, the screw, and the wheel and axle. These machines are everywhere and are in almost constant use in your daily life. Multiple simple machines are often combined to make more complex machines, sometimes referred to as compound machines. For example, a manual can opener contains a lever, a wedge and a wheel and axle. Levers The word lever comes from the French verb lever which means to raise. A lever consists of three parts: the fulcrum, the effort and the load. The closer a load is to the fulcrum, the less force required to lift the load. Stone Age societies used levers to pry rocks from the ground or unearth edible roots and plants. Levers can be categorized into three classes according to the relative positions of the fulcrum, effort and load. A First Class lever has the fulcrum placed in the middle, effort is applied on one side and the load on the other side. Examples include teeter-totters and scissors. In a Second Class lever, the load is in the middle, the effort is applied to one side of the load and the fulcrum is on the other side. A wheelbarrow is a second class lever. In a Third Class lever, the effort is in the middle, the load is on one side of the effort and the fulcrum is on the other side. Examples in this class include tweezers and human mandibles. Adapted from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lever_%28PSF%29.png www.scientistsinschool.ca 1 Inclined Planes Inclined planes are any slanted surface that has one end higher than the other, and can be used for raising or lowering a load. Ancient Romans built causeways and sloping roads to help navigate their hilly cities and transport items between towns. Ancient Egyptians built and used inclined planes, levers and wedges to assist them in building the pyramids. It is believed that earthen inclined planes were built in order to lift the massive stones of Stonehenge into place. Today, inclined planes are used to move materials into trucks and as ramps for wheelchairs and boats. Wedges A wedge can be considered a portable inclined plane. They consist of two inclined planes placed back to back. Stone Age hunters made wedged hand-axes by chipping away at various rocks such as flint. The two-sided sharp edge of the hand-axe was used for cutting meat and chopping wood. Wedges are still used today but the most common material used has changed to metal. Wedges today also come in all shapes and sizes and have many different functions. There are small wedges like axes and knives, and large wedges like airplane wings and bulldozer blades. Wheels and Axles A wheel and axle is a special type of lever comprised of two parts: the wheel and a rod inserted in the center of the wheel called the axle. The wheel and axle can work in two ways. The wheel can turn with a small amount of force, around a longer distance, which turns the axle with a larger amount of force e.g. a wall mounted pencil sharpener. When the axle is turned this will turn the wheel faster which is what happens with an accelerating car. Gears are also considered wheels and axles but they have teeth to prevent slippage. The hard drive inside an old computer is actually multiple wheels stacked upon an axle. As the “wheels” or “platters” spin, an arm moves over the wheel to read the data on the hard drive. Today, modern computers, tablets and smartphones use Solid State Drives or SSDs, which have no moving parts. Pulleys Pulleys are grooved wheels that are on an axle. Pulleys differ from the wheel and axle machine in that they are designed to support movement of a rope or cable around the pulley’s circumference. As early as the 8th century BC, the Sumerians, Babylonians, Hittites and other peoples from the Middle East used a fixed pulley system to pull buckets of water from wells. Archimedes was believed to have used a series of fixed and moveable pulleys called compound pulleys, or block and tackle, to launch a ship by himself. Pulleys are used to raise a flag or open an umbrella over a patio table. Construction building cranes also use pulleys to lift heavy weights to the top of structures. Screws A screw is actually a very thin and narrow inclined plane wrapped around a cylinder. Screws were invented by the ancient Greeks who first combined the screw with a lever to develop a “screw press” that squeezed oil or juice from olives and grapes. Screws have two possible functions. The first is to help to hold things together – they keep doors in their frames, and desks from collapsing. The second function is to lift up and out. This is function is commonly seen in farm machinery and referred to as an “auger”. Augers move the harvested crop up to the top of the machine and deposit it into a truck. www.scientistsinschool.ca 2 Activity 1: Simple Machines Scavenger Hunt Time: 20 – 30 minutes Learning Goal: Students will learn to recognize simple machines in their environment. Other Applications: Visual Arts Procedure: 1. Provide each student with a copy of the Simple Machine Group Size: Individual Scavenger Hunt worksheet. 2. There are various ways students can complete the sheet: Materials: ● Take the class outside to the playground and ask □ Pencil students to identify, draw and label one or two examples each of the 6 different Simple Machines. □ “Simple Machine Scavenger Hunt” ● Ask students to complete the sheet at home with their worksheet parents exploring their own neighbourhood. They should provide one or two examples of each machine. They can Optional Materials: write the name of the item and the machine it uses, □ magazines and/or draw a picture. ● Give students some old magazines to look through to find one or two examples of each simple machine. They can cut and paste the pictures onto the worksheet. Observations: The students should be able to find one or two examples in their playground, neighbourhood or magazine of each of the simple machines. Discussion: Ask students to explain each simple machine they found and describe how it works. Were there some machines that the students had more difficulty finding? If so, discuss with students why that might have been. Fun Fact: Simple Machines in Our Body If you have bones and joints then you have levers and fulcrums. Your knee cap is your body’s perfect pulley. It allows your thigh muscles to lift your lower leg without crushing your knee joint. www.scientistsinschool.ca 3 Name______________ Simple Machine Scavenger Hunt Inclined Planes Wedges Pulleys Levers Screws Wheels and Axles www.scientistsinschool.ca 4 Activity 2: Build an Archimedes Screw Time: 30 - 60 minutes Learning Goal: Students will learn how screws work. Other Applications: Procedure: Social Studies 1. Tape one end of the clear tubing to one end of the water bottle. Ensure that approximately 2 cm of tubing is hanging off the end Group Size: Individual of the water bottle. 2. Wrap the clear tubing around the water bottle in a spiral. Try to Materials: keep the tubing as evenly spaced as possible along the length of □ water bottle (uniform size the water bottle. from top to bottom) 3. Put some tape over the tubing spiral to keep it from sliding around. □ duct tape □ 1 m clear tubing (such as 4. Leave about 2 cm of tubing hanging off the other end of the aquarium airline tubing, water bottle and cut off any excess with scissors. 5 mm diameter or wider) 5. Lay out a towel or some paper towel and place one bowl on top of one or two books (2.5 to 5 cm high). Add some water to the □ two bowls (e.g. cereal second bowl and a few drops of food colouring. Place the bowls) second bowl on a table close to the empty bowl that is on top of □ 1 or 2 books the books. □ water 6. Hold the screw so that one end of the tubing is in the coloured □ food colouring (any water and the other end can reach the empty bowl.
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