More Simple Machines!

In unrelated news, please look to the tool bar on the right and down.  You will find links to most other classes (soon more classes will have them).  As our school website is basically broken, we are using our class blogs to basically create a new school website for the interim.  Please be sure to visit other grades to see what everyone else is learning about!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Since I outlined the objectives and details of our Simple Machines unit yesterday, I'll just keep adding our pictures for the rest of the unit here (i.e., check back on this post a few times).

Thank you for sending safe, inventive tools with simple machines with your second grader.  Today we saw two different kinds of cheese graters (wedges), two different can openers (wedge, lever, wheels), and a hammer (lever and possibly wedge).  We talked about the tool called a level, and while it is a tool, it doesn't necessarily have a simple machine as part of it. 

WEDNESDAY:  SCREW
Today we discussed screws, and how they make work easier.  Screws are basically an inclined plane wrapped around a post, and are used for tightening, shortening, closing, etc.

 Tool: C-clamp.  Use: holding things together.  Simple machine: screw.

 Tool: drill bit.  Use: cutting holes.  Simple machines: wedge, screw.

 Tool: plane.  Use: smoothing wood.  Simple machines: screws to adjust it, wedge.

 Tool: water bottle.  Use:  holding water.  Simple machines: screw to hold lid on, lever to open and close mouthpiece.

 Tool: jar.  Use: contain things.  Simple machine: screw to close lid.  Bonus: which simple machine would pry the jar open?

 Tool: X-acto knife.  Use: cutting.  Simple machines:  screw to tighten clamp that holds the wedge.

 Tool: bottle opener.  Use: opening bottles.  Simple machines: screw, lever, wedge (hidden from view).

  Tool: compass.  Use:  measuring, drawing circles.  Simple machine: screw to tighten to hold pencil.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THURSDAY:  Friction, wheels, pulleys, blocks and tackle!

We also saw these tools from home:  waterbottle (screw), nutcracker (lever), cheese graters (wedges), a pasta cutter (?), a produce cuber (wedges and lever), and more (including a motor made from a wire, battery, screw, and magnet--very cool!).

Friction: objects rubbing together cause heat.  Sometimes friction is good (brakes on a bicycle), often it makes work harder.  Simple machines make work easier and remove friction.  Wheels remove a lot of friction and make moving objects around easier and faster.  A pulley is a special kind of wheel.  A block and tackle is a compound machine (i.e., a tool) made of several simple machines (pulleys).
  

 We tried just a rope over the pipe (lots of friction and it was hard work).  Then we tried a single pulley.  It reduced the friction and made work a lot easier.

 Then we put the weight (eight National Geographics--very official unit of measurement) on a block and tackle, and it was much easier!  Students were impressed with how much easier it was to lift; they showed how much easier the work was by lifting the bucket with one pinkie on the block and tackle.  Many students understood that the work was easier because the work was spread out over more rope, and as a result, they had to pull on a lot more rope to raise the bucket the same height (much like a long, gradual ramp).  More machines mean easier work!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MONDAY: LEVERS
Today we studied levers.  They certainly make work easier.  These are just a few of the levers we talked about.  If you are interested in learning about levers, here's a fun, straightforward website. There are three different kinds of lever: first class, second class, and third class.

 It's a lever!

it's a lever!

It's a lever!

It's a lever!

If you would like to join us for simple machines fun, please come help at our Simple Machines Workshop this coming Tuesday, starting at 12:30.