ABE 101 - Exercise No.

4
Simple Machines

INTRODUCTION
The human mind never fails to come up with anything that can make his/her life easier.
In search for a better and more efficient way of living, we have realized and materialized what
was once an idea in our minds, the machines. Any physical system with organized structural and
functional qualities is referred to as a machine. It could be a man-made or naturally occurring
molecular machine that uses power to apply forces and control movement in order to perform an
action.
Machines enable us to do different kinds of work and activity that requires a lot of force
and physical strength. Moreover, there are different kinds of simple machines which can only be
suitable on a particular kind of work/action. For example, we use wheels when transporting huge
number of loads to another place and many more. Furthermore, each of these simple machines
follow its own scientific and mathematical principles in order for them to work.

OBJECTIVES
After performing this activity, the students should be able to:
1. distinguish and describe simple machines.
2. know and discuss where simple machines are used.
3. apply the principles of simple machines to solve problems.

PROCEDURES
1. Define, discuss and illustrate the following:

a. Lever and its three classes. .

b. Wheel and axle
c. Pulley
d. Inclined plane
e. Screw

2. Solve the given problems below (Show your detailed computation)

1. How much weight can a 140 pounds person lift with a class one lever if the force
arm is 4 ft long and the resultant arm is 1 ft long?
2. How many kilograms can a 100 kilogram man lift with a class two lever if the force
arm is 5 feet long and the resultant arm is 1.5 feet long?
3. How many pounds of force would it take for a class three lever to develop 230
pounds of resultant force if applied force arm is 18 and ¼ inches, and the resultant
force arm is 36 and 7/8 inches?
4. A total weight of 100 pounds is to be lifted using an inclined plane. Determine the
amount of force that would be required if the height is 2.0 ft and the length of the
inclined plane is 12.0 ft.
5. What is the maximum amount of weight that could be pulled up an inclined plane
if the force is limited to 50.75 pounds, the inclined plane is 12.25 feet long, and the
height is 54 inches?
6. How much force will it take to lift a 10 pounds weight with a wheel and axle if the
axle is 2 inches in diameter and the wheel is 10 inches in diameter?
 7. How much pull (F) would it take on the block and tackle rope to lift a 545 pounds
engine?
8. If the lever arm of a screw is 18 inches long and the pitch of the threads is 0.125
inch, how much weight will the jack lift if 50 pounds of force is applied at the end
of the lever arm ignoring friction?

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Simple machines are something that we usually see or use on our daily life.
Some of these machines that is commonly use are Lever, Wheel and Axle, Pulley, Inclined
Plane and Srew. Levers are the most basic machines which are used to do some work with
minimal effort. A lever amplifies an input force to provide a greater output force, which is said
to provide leverage. The types or classifications of lever are;
i) First Class Lever
This is a type of lever which has the fulcrum in between the weight and the force applied. Its
order is represented as force-fulcrum-weight. This is the most basic type of lever
Example:

 Our hand pushing an object or seesaws, crowbars.

 Using scissors represents the use of two first-class levers.
 Pulling a nail out of a wooden plank also represents a first-class
lever.

ii.) Second Class Lever

In this, the fulcrum is at one end and the force applied is on the other end. The weight is
situated in the middle of these two. The order of this would be fulcrum-weight-force. The
application of force at one end will result in some work done on the other end.
Example:

 Wheelbarrow
 Staplers
 Doors or gates
 Bottle openers

iii.) Third Class Lever

These are the levers in which the fulcrum is at one end and the force is applied in the
middle and the weight is on the other end. The order is represented as a weight-force-
fulcrum. In this case, we have to apply more energy to displace the weight to a longer
distance.
Example:

 Fishing rod
 A broom
 A baseball bat
 A bow and arrow
 Human jaw
 The wheel and axle consists of a round disk, known as a wheel, with a rod through the
centre of it, known as the axle. This system uses angular momentum and torque to do work
on objects, typically against the force of gravity. The wheel and axle simple machine is
closely related to gears. The wheel and axle system changes the force by changing the
distance over which the force must be applied; if the input force is reduced to the output
force, then the force must be applied over five times the distance. The work done is always
force times distance, and this must always be the same because of the conservation of

energy.
A pulley is a simple machine that can change the magnitude and direction of an
applied force in the process of doing work. It consists of a cable which is attached to a wheel
and axle, and is often used to lift/transport objects. When referred to in this context, these
objects that are being moved are generally known as the load. Pulleys use the concept
of mechanical advantage, which shows how much an applied force is a multiplied (and the
distance that force moves decreases). For pulleys, the ideal mechanical advantage is,
where the number of fixed-axis pulleys is.
An object placed on a tilted surface will often slide down the surface. The rate at
which the object slides down the surface is dependent upon how tilted the surface is; the
greater the tilt of the surface, the faster the rate at which the object will slide down it. In

physics, a tilted surface is called an inclined plane. Objects are known to accelerate down
inclined planes because of an unbalanced force. To understand this type of motion, it is
important to analyze the forces acting upon an object on an inclined plane. There are
always at least two forces acting upon any object that is positioned on an inclined plane - the
force of gravity and the normal force. The force of gravity (also known as weight) acts in a
downward direction; yet the normal force acts in a direction perpendicular to the surface (in
fact, normal means "perpendicular").

A screw is simply an inclined plane around a cylinder. To describe this better,

you can view it as a cylinder with a head (solid top) at one end and a pointed tip (like a nail)
at the other end. More importantly, it has ridges winding around it. The correct term for the
ridges (or grooves) around the shaft or cylinder is the thread. Screws are useful for holding
things together. They can pull or push an object together. They can be used to lift heavy
items and tighten things too.

Solutions for the solving problems are as follows;

CONCLUSION

Simple Machines are the machines that is common and very simple but is vital in our
living, especially to farmers/workers and or employers. These are machines that is not
complicated to use and also has a lot of uses. Simple machines like lever, inclined planes and
pulley are some machines that helps a worker/person to lift or transfer heavy objects. If you
break down Big complex machines, you’ll see some simple machines . There would be more
uses of simple machines than you’ve imagine. These machines needed force and load/mass to
produce work. Being knowledgeable of the principles and formulas of each machine would be of
great help to solve some problems such as how much force is needed to lift certain object or how
much mass of the load can be lifted by a force in its maximum. To conclude, all machines were
created to help human’s do things beyond their capabilities.

REFERENCES

 Byjus.(2021) Types of lever. https://byjus.com/physics/types-of-lever/

 Afework, B., Donev J., Hanania J., & Steinhouse K. (2018). Wheel and Axle.
https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Wheel_and_axle
 Afework, B., Donev J., Hanania J., & Steinhouse K. (2021). Pulley
https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Pulley
 The physics classroom. (n.d) Inclined Plane.
https://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/vectors/Lesson-3/Inclined-Planes