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All Units>Unit 7 - Levers and machines>Investigation 2 - Compound gadgets>Thinking About the Question

Thinking About The Question

Can you combine several simple machines to make work easier by changing the size or direction of an applied force?


Can you combine several simple machines to make work easier by changing the size or direction of an applied force?

Look around your neighborhood and identify any kind of machinery that helps make work easier. Besides levers, pulleys, and inclined planes, you may notice other simple machines. These gadgets (wedges, screws, and wheel and axles) are really just different forms of pulleys and inclined planes. A wedge is a modification of an inclined plane that moves. It is made of two inclined planes placed together. A screw is also really an inclined plane that curves around a shaft or pole. A wheel and axle is a modification of a pulley. A wheel is fixed to a shaft. The wheel and shaft move together to be a simple machine.

Some common everyday machines are shown above. Do any of these gadgets consist of more than one simple machine? This would qualify them to be listed as a compound (or complex) machine. If so, which ones?



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