Simple machines

Making everyday life easier

In your day-to-day life, you come across many machines like cars, buses, grinders and computers that will ease your work. All these machines need some source of energy, engines or motors to work, but are you aware that there are machines that do not need motors or engines?

A simple machine is the best example of a tool that helps us to make our work easier without any complicated arrangements. These machines have only a very few parts.

The sea-saw in your playground is an example of a simple machine. This machine is called a lever. It is a stiff bar or board that is supported at a point which is known as the fulcrum. The fulcrum in the see-saw is the metal stand. If you get onto one side of the sea-saw, that side pushes down and the other side of the board moves up on the fulcrum.

The fulcrum need not always be in the middle of a lever. If you use a stick to push a stone, the fulcrum of that lever is towards the end. The stick moves on its fulcrum and lifts the stone. Did you know that without a lever it will be extremely difficult to move heavy rocks?

The inclined plane is one of the simplest machines of all. This machine is a flat surface with one end placed higher than the other. A ramp is an example of an inclined plane.

The wedge is another simple machine that we find and use in our day-to-day lives. This can be used to cut or split something. The head of an axe is an example of a wedge. The wedge pushes the wood apart on either side of the axe and cuts the log into parts. A chisel is another example for a wedge. A knife blade is a thin wedge.

The front part of a boat also forms a wedge; it pushes the water away from either side of the boat. A nail is also a wedge; when the point of the nail is forced into a piece of wood, it pushes the wood apart.

More about simple machines later...

Janani Amarasekara