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Simply Marvelous Machines

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Simply Marvelous Machines Simply Marvellous Machines Have you ever stopped to think about how many simple machines we use in our everyday lives? Did you climb a flight of stairs this morning? Did you use something to prop a door open? Did you open a window blind? Turn on a light switch? Cut something with a pair of scissors? All of these everyday activities use simple machines. Sometimes these simple machines have been put together to form a more complex machine, like scissors which are comprised of two levers and two wedges, but beneath all those parts there are simple machines working to make our life easier. Background Information So what is a simple machine anyway? Simply put, simple machines are mechanical devices that make work easier by changing the magnitude, the direction or the distance and speed of a force. Our ancestors used simple machines to make their life easier, to solve everyday problems they encountered and to build incredible things, such as Stonehenge. Simple machines can be organized into two families: levers or inclined planes. The Six Types of Simple Machines Simple machines are often classified into six types. The lever family includes the lever, the wheel and axle (gear) and the pulley. The inclined plane family includes the inclined plane, the wedge, and the screw. Simple machines are used daily and are often combined to create what is known as a compound machine. Compound machines include wheelbarrows, hoes, bicycles, corkscrews and can openers. Even the most complex machines designed by engineers are a combination of one or more of the six simple machines. The Lever Family Levers The word lever comes from the French verb lever which means to raise. Levers have two parts: a fulcrum and a bar. A fulcrum is the point on which a bar rests or is supported. The use of a lever involves three things: the load that we’re trying to move; the effort or force we are applying; and the fulcrum where the lever pivots. The closer a load is to the fulcrum, the less effort (or force) required to lift the load. Stone Age societies used levers to pry rocks from the ground or unearth edible roots and plants. In modern society, firefighters need to know which mechanism would be appropriate when rescuing people. A lever can be used to pry open a stuck car door. 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. Wheels can reduce friction and provide leverage. A small amount of force can be applied to the wheel which turns it around a longer distance and magnifies the original applied force. When the axle is turned, this will rotate the wheel faster which is what happens with an accelerating bicycle. One primitive type of wheel that is still used today is a spinning wheel. Believed to have been developed in Ancient India around 500BC, spinning wheels are used to take the short fibres of cotton, wool or other fibres and spin them into longer strands of thread or yarn. Gears are a specialized wheel and axle, where the wheels have teeth. When two or more gears are connected, they form a gear train. Gear teeth need to connect or mesh to make this simple machine function. The gear that initiates the turn is called the leader or driver. The final gear at the end of the train is called the follower. All of the other gears in the train are known as idler gears. While labeling www.scientistsinschool.ca 1 the gear train is not necessary for Kindergarten students, they can see patterns in the train. Gears move in an alternating pattern with 1, 3, 5 etc. moving in one direction, while 2, 4, 6 etc. move in the opposite direction. Gears are used to increase speed, change the amount or the direction of the force. Gears are found in many sizes from tiny gears in some watches to giant gears in wind turbines. Pulleys Pulleys are grooved wheels that are on an axle. Pulleys differ from the wheel and axle, in that they are designed to support the movement of a rope or cable around the pulley’s circumference. As early as the eighth 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. Today, pulleys are used to raise flags and open umbrellas over a patio table. Construction building cranes also use pulleys to lift heavy weights to the top of structures. The Inclined Plane Family Inclined Planes Inclined planes are slanted surfaces. They can be used for raising or lowering a load. How much help an inclined plane provides will depend on just how high an object needs to move vertically – the higher the object needs to move, the longer the inclined plane needs to be in order to minimize the amount of force required to move the object. 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 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. A wedge is used to separate two objects, such as an axe for splitting wood, or to lift or hold an object in place, like a doorstop. 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. Egyptians were very clever in their use of wedges when it came to cutting stone. They would insert wooden wedges into natural cracks in a rock and then pour water over the wooden wedge. The water would cause the wedge to expand, pushing the rock apart. They would repeatedly insert larger and larger wooden wedges and keep dousing them with water until finally the stone would crack in two. Wedge tools are still used today but they are more commonly made from metal. They 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. Screws A screw is actually a very thin and narrow inclined plane wrapped around a cylinder. Inclined planes can help movement in a straight line; screws can aid movement in a circular direction. 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 can have two functions. The first is to help hold things together, for example, keeping doors in their frames and desks from collapsing. The second function is to lift up and out. This function is commonly seen in farm machinery, and the device is 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 Machine Sorting Game Time: 20 – 30 minutes Learning Goal: Students will learn about simple machines by finding and observing simple machines in everyday objects. Key Terms: Simple Machines, Lever, Inclined Procedure: Plane, Wedge, Pulley, Teacher Preparation Before Class Screw, Wheel and Axle, 1. Create a Simple Machine Sorting Game station. Print out the Compound Machines “Simple Machine Sorting Cards” and spread them around the edges of the station. Entire class Group Size: 2. Print and cut out the “Icons for Simple Machine Sorting Game”. and/or small working groups Place them face down in the centre of the station. Materials: Student Activity □ selection of objects or 1. Introduce the six simple machines through the following song, photographs of six simple sung to the tune of Skip to My Lou. As the song is sung, fill in machines and one or the <blank> with one of the six simple machines and hold up an more compound object or picture as an example. The table below provides some machines ideas that can be collected before class. Work is easy when you have a machine □ “Simple Machine Sorting Work is easy when you have a machine Cards” Work is easy when you have a machine □ “Icons for Simple Machine Sorting Game” Having a <blank> is really keen. Simple Machine Example Lever bottle opener, hammer Inclined Plane slide, wheelchair ramp Wedge shovel, doorstop Pulley window blinds, flagpole Fun Fact: Screw corkscrew, screw top on jar or bottle Bird Machines! Wheel & Axle toy car, wagon Watch the birds 2. Introduce the term compound machine by showing an object on a backyard that uses more than one simple machine. For example, a pair of feeder…do you see scissors has two wedges connected as a lever. A manual pencil a lever or a wedge? sharpener has a razor that acts as a wedge and a screw to hold Bird beaks act as it in place. simple machines by 3. Have the students visit the Simple Machine Sorting Game helping them make station.
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