Levers
This is the fixed pivot point that a playground lever or seesaw turns on.
What is the fulcrum?
Doing this to a ramp's length while keeping the height the same will drastically reduce the force you need to push a heavy box up it.
What is increasing it? (or What is making it longer?)
This basic simple machine consists of a grooved wheel and a flexible rope or cable.
What is a pulley?
In a standard wheel and axle setup, this is the specific part that always has the larger diameter.
What is the wheel?
This is the scientific term for any machine, like a bicycle or a wheelbarrow, that combines two or more simple machines to do work.
What is a compound machine? (Accept "complex machine")
A standard playground seesaw belongs to this specific class of levers because its pivot point sits right in the middle.
What is a first-class lever?
This simple machine is actually just an inclined plane wrapped around a central cylinder or post.
What is a screw?
A flagpole uses a single fixed pulley, meaning it doesn't reduce the force needed to lift the flag, but instead changes this property of the force.
What is the direction?
This round household object uses a wheel and axle mechanism to release a latch so you can walk into a room.
What is a doorknob?
A standard handheld can opener uses a wheel and axle crank, lever handles, and this sharp simple machine to pierce the metal lid.
What is a wedge?
When using a wheelbarrow to carry heavy dirt, the machine belongs to this class because the load sits in the middle.
What is a second-class lever?
This portable double-sided inclined plane is used to split objects apart, cut things, or hold a heavy door in place.
What is a wedge?
This is the specific naval and construction term for a heavy-duty system that links multiple fixed and movable pulleys together.
What is a block and tackle?
Turning a large steering wheel applies a small force over a large distance, which causes the smaller axle to apply a force that undergoes this change.
What is an increase? (or What is being multiplied?)
In physics, this value is calculated by multiplying the force applied to an object by the total distance the object moves.
What is work?
When swinging a hockey stick or a baseball bat, your hand applies the effort force in the middle, making it this class of lever.
What is a third-class lever?
Mountain roads utilize these sharp, zigzagging turns to increase the total driving distance so engines don't have to work as hard to climb.
What are switchbacks?
If a movable pulley setup utilizes exactly four supporting ropes to hold up a 100-pound box, you only need this many pounds of force to lift it.
What is 25 pounds?
Removing the long crank handle from a vintage wall pencil sharpener leaves only a bare metal rod, making the sharpener much more difficult to turn due to a loss of this.
What is mechanical advantage?
This standard metric unit is used by scientists to measure the total amount of work done or energy spent by a machine.
What is a Joule?
To maximize your mechanical advantage and make lifting a heavy box easier with a first-class lever, you should slide the pivot point closer to this.
What is the load? (or What is the heavy object?)
This is the physics term for what you multiply when you trade a short, steep climb for a long, gradual ramp.
What is distance?
When you use a massive pulley system to lift a heavy engine easily, this is the major trade-off regarding the rope.
What is distance? (You have to pull a lot more rope).
On a Ferris wheel, the motor applies force to the axle to spin the giant outer wheel, meaning this machine trades force to gain this instead.
What is speed? (or What is distance?)
This pesky, rubbing force works against simple machines by turning useful kinetic energy into wasted thermal heat.
What is friction?