How Do You Build Levers And Pulleys?
Levers and pulleys are uncomplicated machines that make work easier by improving mechanical advantage, meaning that they reduce the effort needed to do a task. They provide “leverage,” changing the direction of our effort. If you go down to your basement or out to the garage, you’ll find dozens of simple machines and combinations of simple machines. Here’s how to make two of them. Find levers around your house and garden. Levers lift a load by perching on a pivot point, called a fulcrum, that places the effort at the end of the long arm and the object to be moved at the end of the short arm. Use a shovel to make a lever. Dig into the dirt, then pull back, pivoting the blade against the top of the soil to lift out the dirt. Scissors are made of two levers, connected at their pivot points. Claw-tooth hammers pull nails using leverage. The mechanical advantage of a lever is found by dividing the length of the distance between the source of effort (you) and the fulcrum by the distance from
