Welcome to the simple machines blog. On this site you will learn the six simple machines which are: lever, wedge, inclined plane, pulley, wheel and axle and screw. Simple Machines are all around us, they assist us in our everyday tasks to make work easier.

In this picture it lists five of the six simple machines. It gives a brief description of each machine and many pictures and examples to help your understanding of what simple machines are

 

At Home Experiments- This experiment is very simple to do at home and it is a good example of a lever.

Materials:
-Half a toilet paper roll
-Ruler
-4 Plastic Blocks

Procedure:
1. Put toilet paper roll on the desk so that the rounded part is facing up. Slightly bend the roll. The roll will act as the fulcrum in the experiment.

2. Place ruler on top of the toilet paper roll. Move the ruler so till it is equally balanced on top of the toilet paper roll.

3. Once the ruler is balanced add a block to each side and then try to equally balance the ruler.

4. After balancing the ruler then try to add a second block to one side moving the blocks back and forth to gain balance.

5. If able to balance try to add three blocks to one side trying to balance out the ruler.

Edheads is a wonderful site for simple machines. On this site you will be able to play a game to identify simple machines in a number of places around a house. If you are having trouble understanding what simple machines are, this is the perfect place for you.
http://www.edheads.org/activities/simple-machines/index.shtml

The Inventors Toolbox defines all of the simple machines and gives brief examples. http://www.mos.org/sln/Leonardo/InventorsToolbox.html

This Bill Nye the Science Guy video is a closer look into the lever.