Simple Machines
at Work
by Mark Sutherland
If you visit a
construction site, you will
see force and motion
at work all around you.
Machines of all sizes
are pushing and pulling,
digging and lifting.
Machines make work
easier.
WHEEL AND AXLE
LEVER
INCLINED PLANE
A worker pushes a
It is easier to move a load up an inclined
plane than to lift it to the next level.
wheelbarrow up a ramp.
The ramp is an inclined
plane. The handles of the wheelbarrow are levers. The wheel
is mounted on an axle that allows it to turn. Working together,
these machines make it easier to push the load.
A wheelbarrow has more than one simple machine, so
it is called a complex machine. Another worker is using a
screwdriver to drive in screws. A screwdriver is a lever, too.
Many of the smallest tools are simple machines. Nails,
saws, and any tools that cut are wedges. Pliers and hammers
work like levers. Inclined planes, levers, wheels and axles, and
wedges are all simple machines. These simple machines work
together to help get the job done.
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