The Topic:  Simple Machines Easier - A simple machine is a device that helps make work easier; a device that makes it easier to move something. Some simple machines are a wheel, a pulley, a lever, a screw, and an inclined plane.   Harder - Most machines consist of a number of elements, such as gears and ball bearings, that work together in a complex way. No matter how complex a machine, it is still based on the compounding of six types of simple machines. The six types of machines are the lever, the wheel and axle, the pulley, the inclined plane, the wedge, and the screw.     Background Information for Simple Machines from National Museum of Science and Technology, Canada http://www.science-tech.nmstc.ca/english/schoolzone/Info_Simple_Machines.cfm Here you can find the answers to some commonly asked questions about simple machines.   The Elements of Machines: Simple Machines from Leonardo's Workshop http://www.mos.org/sln/Leonardo/InventorsToolbox.html Learn about devices that make work easier to do by providing some tradeoff between the force applied and the distance over which the force is applied. Also provides a brief introduction to uses of a gear, cam, crank and rod, chain and belt, and the ratchet.   Levers from Beakman & Jax http://www.beakman.com/lever/lever.html Play with levers and find out how work from the fulcrum to the load to the effort. (Wait for second page to come)   Marvelous Machines  http://www.galaxy.net:80/~k12/machines/index.shtml This website provides a series of experiments about simple machines: levers, wheels and inclined planes. They were developed for third grade students. (Comes up slowly)   After exploring some or all of the websites below, complete one or more of these activities:   Investigate Wheels with Your Bicycle. Go to PBS Teachersource's Mathematics of Bicycles I: Wheel Figure This Out website and use your bicycle to learn about the wheel.   Find Out How Stuff Works. Check out How Stuff Works. Look for a device that uses a simple machine as part of how it works. Create a poster showing how it works.   Gear Up with a Tricycle & Bicycle. Visit PBS Teachersource's Mathematics of Bicycles II: Gearing Up! site and follow the procedures there to learn a lot more about gears.   Complete a Simple Machines WebQuest. Follow or adapt the procedures found at one of these webQuest sites:  1) Exploring Simple Machines by Paula Markowitz (Grade 4) http://www.lakelandschools.org/EDTECH/Machines/Machines.htm 2) Simple Machines http://www.eng.iastate.edu/twt/Course/packet/labs/wheels&leverLab.htm 3) Simple Machines WebQuest (Grade 4-6) http://www.plainfield.k12.in.us/hschool/webq/webq8/jjquest.htm 4) Simple Machines http://www.beth.k12.pa.us/schools/wwwclass/mcosgrove/simple.htm 5) Simple Machines Webquest http://www.jsd.k12.ak.us/ab/el/simplemachines.html   Complete an Online Simple Machines Activity. Learn more about simple machines by following the directions at A Time for Simple Machines. You may also want to test your knowledge at Gadget Anatomy.   Complete Some Simple Machine Experiments. Find lots of experiments at sites like Marvelous Machines and Motion, Energy and Simple Machines.   Websites For Kids Simple Machine Page for Kids http://www.san-marino.k12.ca.us/~summer1/machines/simplemachines.html This is a page on simple machines for kids with pictures.   Simple Machines (Part of a ThinkQuest project: E'Ville Mansion!)  http://library.thinkquest.org/3447/simpmach.htm Learn about four simple machines ( Inclined planes, pulley systems, levers, and the wheel and axle). All are mechanisms that convert energy to a more useful form.   More Simple Machine Websites Mechanisms and Simple Machines from Introduction to Mechanisms at Carnegie Mellon University http://www.cs.cmu.edu/People/rapidproto/mechanisms/chpt2.html Here is advanced level material that covers inclined planes, gears, pulleys, and more.   Motion, Energy and Simple Machines by J.S. Mason  http://www.necc.mass.edu/MRVIS/MR3_13/start.htm This site investigates Newton's Laws of Motion and the concepts of potential and kinetic energy. The concepts of force, friction, energy transfer, and mechanical advantage are explored as you build simple machines and investigate there operation.   Oh No Lego® Wedgies! from Weird Richard  http://weirdrichard.com:80/wedge.htm Explore the wedge, the active twin of the inclined plane. It does useful work by moving. In contrast, the inclined plane always remains stationary. Related Websites from Weird Richard: 2) Ladies and Gentlemen...The Inclined Plane! http://weirdrichard.com/inclined.htm 3) Oh Goody, Even More on Gears! http://weirdrichard.com/gears.htm 3) Those Crazy Lego® Screws! http://weirdrichard.com/screw.htm   Simple Machines http://staff.harrisonburg.k12.va.us/~mwampole/1-resources/simple-machines/index.html This site houses a collection of over seventy photographs of common, everyday simple machines.   Simple Machines Demo (Pulley and Levers)  http://www.cwru.edu/artsci/phys/courses/demos/simp.htm This demonstration explores the mechanical advantage of pulleys and levers and evaluates the concept of torque.   Spotlight on Simple Machines from "inQuiry Almanack" at Franklin Institute http://sln.fi.edu/qa97/spotlight3/spotlight3.html Here you learn about simple machines that make work easier: inclined plane, lever, wedge, screw, pulley, and the wheel and axle.    Websites for Teachers A First-Class Job http://www.aimsedu.org/Activities/oldSamples/FirstClass/job1.html What happens when the position of the fulcrum on a first-class lever is changed?   Bicycles by J.P. Crotty from Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute  http://pclt.cis.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1987/6/87.06.01.x.html#h This is the site of a narrative unit plan that begins with the circle and proceeds to investigation of simple machines using the bicycle.   Sketching Gadget Anatomy at The Museum of Science  http://www.mos.org/sln/Leonardo/SketchGadgetAnatomy.html The idea for this lesson is that close observation and sketching lead to a better understanding of how machines work.   Simple Machines (Grades 3-4) by C. Huddle  http://www.lerc.nasa.gov/WWW/K- 12/Summer_Training/KaeAvenueES/SIMPLE_MACHINES.html These activities are designed to give students experiences in using simple machines. Similar Websites: 2) Simple Machines (Grade 3) by L. Wilkins http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/ylp/Units/Curriculum_Units/95-96/Simple_Machines_LWilkins/identify_simple_machines.html 3) Simple Machines (Grades 4-8) by B. Campbell http://www.col-ed.org/cur/sci/sci09.txt 4) Simple Machines http://www-sci.lib.uci.edu/SEP/CTS/Machine.html 5) Simple Machines at Teachers.Net http://teachers.net/lessons/posts/215.html 6) Simple Machines (Grade 3) http://www.sasked.gov.sk.ca/docs/elemsci/gr3uhesc.html 7) Simple Machines Webquest http://outreach.rice.edu/~dgabby/science/simp_mach/   Simple Machines http://edtech.kennesaw.edu/web/simmach.html Research and Informational site to links.   Simple Machines http://staff.harrisonburg.k12.va.us/~mwampole/1-resources/simple-machines/0-lesson.html A major component of this lesson is a simple machines scavenger hunt.   Work Is Simple With Simple Machines  http://www.ed.uri.edu:80/SMART96/ELEMSC/SMARTmachines/machine.html Students participating in this project will investigate simple machines and their usefulness in everyday life.   simple machine wheel and axle fulcrum lever gear effort resistance force mass moveable pulley inclined plane screw wedge pulley fixed pulley compound machine work pivot rotate pushing pulling lifting ramp motion transfer change distance invention friction Rube Goldberg energy transfer inertia      Created by Annette Lamb and Larry Johnson, 1/00. Updated by Nancy Smith, 6/02.