All machines are made up of one or more of the following six simple machines.
The Inclined Plane:
An inclined plane is a sloping suface along which a load is moved.
eg) a ramp
The Wedge:
A wedge is a machine shaped like an inclined plane, but it does work on an onject by pushed into the object.
eg) a knife
The Screw:
A screw is simply an inclined plane wrapped around a rod. Like the wedge, the screw can do work by moving into or through an object.
eg) a jar lid
The Lever:
The lever is a bar that is supported at one point. This point is called the fulcrum. The lever rotates freely around the fulcrum. The lever can be evenly spaced like a see saw or not evenly spaced, where the fulcrum is at one end, like a wheelbarrow.
eg) a see-saw, a wheelbarrow
The Wheel and Axle:
The wheel and axle consists of a large-diameter disk (wheel), which is firmly attached to a small-diameter shaft(axle). This will either multiply distance, speed, or force.
eg) a screwdriver, car tires
The Pulley:
The pulley is a simple machine made from a rope or cable that is looped around a support. Depending on whether a pulley is a fixed pulley, single movable pulley, or a four-pulley sytem, they can change direction of the force and/or multiply the force.
The mechanical advantage of any machine can be calculated by the following formula:
mechanical advantage=load force
effort force
