Looking at Levers and Screws

We learned about two more simple machines - levers and screws.

Levers are machines used to increase force. We call them "simple machines" because they have only two parts — the handle and the fulcrum. The handle or bar of the lever is called the "arm" — it's the part that you push or pull on. The "fulcrum" is the point on which the lever turns or balances.

We used wooden blocks, rulers and rocks to make levers. The wooden block acted as the fulcrum. We found out that the closer the fulcrum is to the load, the easier it is to lift. A see-saw, wheelbarrow and scissors are examples of levers.

A screw is simply an inclined plane around a cylinder. It uses a rotational movement to go downwards. We realised that there are lots of examples of the screw around us - jar and water bottle lids and the clamps that we use in the Maker Space are just a few.