In everyday life people are always looking for tools to make work easier, faster or more efficient. It turns out that in science you can also make work easier with tools called simple machines, which change the distance, size or direction of the force to get that work done.
Watch this animation to learn how simple machines can amplify work (which means they make work easier and more efficient). As you watch the segment, you might want to review the definitions of specific terms. In addition to simple machine and work, energy, force and complex machine will be used.
Stop the animation at any time, watch it again, or read the transcript.
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Work in the world of physics is when energy is transferred into a system via forces, and those forces move something a distance. But there is a way, thanks to the wonders of physics, to make work easier. Enter the simple machine.
A simple machine is a device either found in nature (ie. your elbow as a lever ) or made by humans (ie. teeter totter as lever) that amplifies work done. These machines take a force and multiply the work, either by amplifying the forces or increasing the distance moved within a system. So smaller forces can move things longer distances.
Levers, inclined planes, pulleys, a screw, a wedge and the wheel and axle; these are all simple machines. And simple machines can be combined to form complex machines. A wheelbarrow is a wheel + a lever. Scissors are a combo of a lever and a wedge. Either way you slice it, simple and complex machines multiply the work done. Which in a work-a-day world like ours, comes in handy.
In the space below write a definition of a simple machine and give 4 examples.