What’s an inclined plane? Jar lids, spiral staircases, light bulbs, and key rings. These are all examples of inclined planes that wind around themselves.  Some inclined planes are used to lower and raise things (like a jack or ramp), but they can also used to hold objects together (like jar lids or light bulb threads).


Here’s a quick experiment you can do to show yourself how something straight, like a ramp, is really the same as a spiral staircase.


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Parts of the Lever

Levers, being simple machines, have only three simple parts. The load, the effort, and the fulcrum. Let’s start with the load. The load is basically what it is you’re trying to lift. The books in the last experiment where the load. Now for the effort. That’s you. In the last experiment, you were putting the force on the lever to lift the load. You were the effort. The effort is any kind of force used to lift the load. Last for the fulcrum. It is the pivot that the lever turns on. The fulcrum, as we’ll play with a bit more later, is the key to the effectiveness of the lever.


There are three types of levers. Their names are first-class, second-class and third-class. I love it when it’s that simple. Kind of like Dr. Seuss’s Thing One and Thing Two. The only difference between the three different levers is where the effort, load and fulcrum are.


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This isn't strictly a 'levers' experiment, but it's still a cool demonstration about simple machines, specifically how pulleys are connected with belts.

Take a rubber band and a roller skate (not in-line skates, but the old-fashioned kind with a wheel at each corner.) Lock the wheels on one side together by wrapping the rubber band around one wheel then the other.  Turn one wheel and watch the other spin.

Now crisscross the rubber band belt by removing one side of the rubber band from a wheel, giving it a half twist, and replacing it back on the wheel.  Now when you turn one wheel, the other should spin the opposite direction. Here's a quick video on what to expect:

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When people mention the word “hydraulics”, they could be talking about pumps, turbines, hydropower, erosion, or river channel flow.  The term “hydraulics” means using fluid power, and deals with machines and devices that use liquids to move, lift, drive, and shove things around.


Liquids behave in certain ways: they are incompressible, meaning that you can’t pack the liquid into a tighter space than it already is occupying.


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We’re going to use everyday objects to build a simple machine and learn how to take data. Sadly, most college students have trouble with these simple steps, so we’re getting you a head start here. The most complex science experiments all have these same steps that we’re about to do… just on a grander (and more expensive) scale. We’re going to break each piece down so you can really wrap your head around each step. Are you ready to put your new ideas to the test?


This experiment is for Advanced Students.


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This experiment is for Advanced Students. We’re going to really get a good feel for energy and power as it shows up in real life. For this experiment, you need:


  • Something that weighs about 100 grams or 4 ounces, or just grab an apple.
  • A meter or yard stick

This might seem sort of silly but it’s a good way to get the feeling for what a Joule is and what work is.
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We’re going to practice measuring and calculating real life stuff (because science isn’t just in a textbook, is it?) When I taught engineering classes, most students had never analyzed real bridges or tools before – they only worked from the textbook. So let’s jump out of the words and into action, shall we? This experiment is for Advanced Students.


Before we start, make sure you’ve worked your way through this experiment first!


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A super-fast, super-cool car that uses the pent-up energy inside a mouse trap spring to propel a homemade car forward. While normally this is reserved for high school physics classes, it really is a fun and inexpensive experiment to do with kids of all ages.

This is a great demonstration of how energy changes form. At first, the energy was  stored in the spring of the mousetrap as elastic potential energy, but after the trap is triggered, the energy is transformed into kinetic energy as rotation of the wheels.

Remember with the First Law of Thermodynamics: energy can’t be created or destroyed, but it CAN change forms. And in this case, it goes from elastic potential energy to kinetic energy.

There’s enough variation in design to really see the difference in the performance of your vehicle. If you change the size of the wheels for example, you’ll really see a difference in how far it travels. If you change the size of the wheel axle, your speed is going to change. If you alter the size of the lever arm, both your speed and distance will change. It's fun to play with the different variables to find the best vehicle you can build with your materials!

Here's what you need to do this project:

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trebuchet23This experiment is for Advanced Students. For ages, people have been hurling rocks, sticks, and other objects through the air. The trebuchet came around during the Middle Ages as a way to break through the massive defenses of castles and cities. It’s basically a gigantic sling that uses a lever arm to quickly speed up the rocks before letting go. A trebuchet is typically more accurate than a catapult, and won’t knock your kid’s teeth out while they try to load it.


Trebuchets are really levers in action. You’ll find a fulcrum carefully positioned so that a small motion near the weight transforms into a huge swinging motion near the sling. Some mis-named trebuchets are really ‘torsion engines’, and you can tell the difference because the torsion engine uses the energy stored in twisted rope or twine (or animal sinew) to launch objects, whereas true trebuchets use heavy counterweights.


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