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A simple machine is a mechanical device that changes the direction or magnitude of a force. [1] In general, they can be defined as the simplest mechanisms that use mechanical advantage (also called leverage) to multiply force. [2] Usually the term refers to the six classical simple machines that were defined by Renaissance scientists: [3] [4 ...
Examples of rope and pulley systems illustrating mechanical advantage. Consider lifting a weight with rope and pulleys. A rope looped through a pulley attached to a fixed spot, e.g. a barn roof rafter, and attached to the weight is called a single pulley. It has a mechanical advantage (MA) = 1 (assuming frictionless bearings in the pulley ...
The rope is threaded through the pulleys to provide mechanical advantage that amplifies that force applied to the rope. [4] In order to determine the mechanical advantage of a block and tackle system consider the simple case of a gun tackle, which has a single mounted, or fixed, pulley and a single movable pulley.
The Atwood machine (or Atwood's machine) was invented in 1784 by the English mathematician George Atwood as a laboratory experiment to verify the mechanical laws of motion with constant acceleration. Atwood's machine is a common classroom demonstration used to illustrate principles of classical mechanics .
A sheave or pulley wheel is a pulley using an axle supported by a frame or shell (block) to guide a cable or exert force. A pulley may have a groove or grooves between flanges around its circumference to locate the cable or belt. The drive element of a pulley system can be a rope, cable, belt, or chain.
A lever is a simple machine consisting of a beam or rigid rod pivoted at a fixed hinge, or fulcrum. A lever is a rigid body capable of rotating on a point on itself. On the basis of the locations of fulcrum, load, and effort, the lever is divided into three types. It is one of the six simple machines identified by
The hand axe is the first example of a wedge, the oldest of the six classic simple machines, from which most machines are based. The second oldest simple machine was the inclined plane (ramp), [6] which has been used since prehistoric times to move heavy objects. [7] [8] The other four simple machines were invented in the ancient Near East. [9]
The wheel and axle assembly can be considered one of the six simple machines. Wheel and axle – a machine consisting of a wheel attached to a smaller axle so that these two parts rotate together in which a force is transferred from one to the other. The wheel and axle can be viewed as a version of the lever, with a drive force applied ...