OpenStax
Open Stax: Forces and Torques in Muscles and Joints
From a chapter on Statics and Torque in a Physics textbook. This section of the chapter provides an in-depth discussion of forces and torque in the human body. We learn about muscular force, the importance of posture in preventing back...
OpenStax
Open Stax: Simple Machines
From a chapter on Statics and Torque in a Physics textbook. This section of the chapter discusses the different types of simple machines and how to calculate their mechanical advantage. Includes questions, problems and exercises.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Tools and Equipment, Part I
Through a series of activities, students discover that the concept of mechanical advantage describes reality fairly well. They act as engineers creating a design for a ramp at a construction site by measuring four different inclined...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Machines and Tools, Part Ii
In this activity, students gain first-hand experience with the mechanical advantage of pulleys. Students are given the challenge of helping save a whale by moving it from an aquarium back to its natural habitat into the ocean. They set...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Pulley'ing Your Own Weight
Using common materials (spools, string, soap), students learn how a pulley can be used to easily change the direction of a force, making the moving of large objects easier. They see the difference between fixed and movable pulleys, and...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Wide World of Gears
In an interactive and game-like manner, students learn about the mechanical advantage that is offered by gears. By virtue of the activity's mechatronics presentation, students learn to study a mechanical system as a dynamic system under...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: The Power of Mechanical Advantage
Students learn about the mechanical advantage offered by pulleys in an interactive and game-like manner. By virtue of the activity's mechatronic presentation, they learn to study a mechanical system not as a static image, but rather as a...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Simple Machines From Pyramids to Skyscrapers
Simple machines are devices with few or no moving parts that make work easier, and which people have used to provide mechanical advantage for thousands of years. Students learn about the wedge, wheel and axle, lever, inclined plane,...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Just Plane Simple
This lesson plan introduces middle schoolers to three of the six simple machines used by many engineers. These machines include the inclined plane, the wedge and the screw. In general, engineers use the inclined plane to lift heavy...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Levers That Lift
This activity introduces students to three of the six simple machines used by many engineers: the lever, the pulley, and the wheel-and-axle. In general, engineers use the lever to magnify the force applied to an object, the pulley to...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Not So Simple
Students expand upon their understanding of simple machines with an introduction to compound machines. A compound machine - a combination of two or more simple machines - can affect work more than its individual components. Engineers who...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Simple Machines
Through a five-lesson series with five hands-on activities, students are introduced to six simple machines - inclined plane, wedge, screw, lever, pulley, wheel-and-axle - as well as compound machines, which are combinations of two or...
Other
Mechanical Systems
A collection of resources on how humans use machines and tools to meet their needs. Covers simple and complex machines, subsystems that transfer forces, mechanical advantage, speed ratio, the effect of friction, efficiency, the science...
Other
Ontario Council for Technology Education: Designing and Testing a Crane [Pdf]
By the end of this project, students will be familiar with the 6 different simple machines and will be able to identify how these machines are used in products and tools they use on a daily basis. They will investigate how mechanical...
Scholastic
Scholastic: Dirtmeister's Science Reporters: The Lever
This site provides a description of the lever and its many uses.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Levers: How the Human Body Uses Them to Its Advantage
Students will apply the concept of levers to the human body and build all three classes of levers within a musculoskeletal context. They will be shown how the musculoskeletal system is a system of levers and one example of each type of...
Ohio State University
Ohio State Univ.: Simple Machines & Mechanical Advantage [Pdf]
This site details how simple machines create a mechanical advantage for humans. Levers, theoretical mechanical advantage, actual mechanical advantage, and pulley systems are discussed.
NASA
Nasa: Pascal's Principle and Hydraulics
Pascals Principle is explained, illustrated, and related to hydraulics. Learning exercises are given and answered at this NASA site.
Other
University of Arkansas: Simple Machines
A thorough discussion of all the simple machines, beginning with some thoughts on mechanical advantage and conservation of energy. Very complete. Move down to the section that interests you.
Sophia Learning
Sophia: Simple Machines: Levers: Lesson 3
This lesson will introduce the three types of levers and show how to calculate the mechanical advantage of each. It is 3 of 3 in the series titled "Simple Machines: Levers."
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Solid Rock to Building Block
Students continue their pyramid building journey, acting as engineers to determine the appropriate wedge tool to best extract rock from a quarry and cut into pyramid blocks. Using sample materials (wax, soap, clay, foam) representing...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Rube Goldberg and the Meaning of Machines
Simple and compound machines are designed to make work easier. When we encounter a machine that does not fit this understanding, the so-called machine seems absurd. In this lesson, the cartoons of Rube Goldberg are introduced and engage...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Engineering: Simple Machines
Simple machines are devices with few or no moving parts that make work easier. Students are introduced to the six types of simple machines - the wedge, wheel and axle, lever, inclined plane, screw, and pulley - in the context of the...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Pyramid Building: How to Use a Wedge
Students learn how simple machines, including wedges, were used in building both ancient pyramids and present-day skyscrapers. In a hands-on activity, students test a variety of wedges on different materials (wax, soap, clay, foam)....