THE LOST SIMPLE MACHINES LESSON

Introduction:

 

Among the six lost lessons, the simple machines demonstration was most rudimentary.  Perhaps, it is because most earth-based simple machines are crafted to overcome the handicap of gravity.    In space, without the effect of gravity, no difficulty in pushing, pulling, lifting, or rotating the most massive articles is encountered.   However, there remain significant uses for simple machines, even in space.  The challenge of the simple machines lost lesson was to demonstrate how they might be used in a zero-g space environment.                                                                                               

 

Even without gravity, the principles of Newton ’s action/reaction laws call for simple machines to accommodate certain activities.   For example,  astronauts had exercised on stationary pedal type bikes during the Skylab Programs.   Though the bike wheel did not transport the user on a path about the lab’s interior,  there was the mechanical advantage of pedal-leverage rotating the wheel.   By applying resistance via a braking mechanism, the amount of effort (work) the astronaut performed in exercising could be adjusted.  Indeed, even in space, simple machines of all types are employed.              

 

Mayfield’s summary paragraph for the simple machines lesson described an elemental  collection of stowed equipment.   The demonstration apparatus included an  aluminum inclined plane (10” long by 2” wide by 3” high), a screw driver with a screw insert, a small four wheeled cart the width of the included plane, and a pulley.  Unfortunately, among the video clips reviewed during the ground and zero-g practices, none depicted the lost simple machines lesson.  For that reason, this editor has injected a degree of  speculation into how the lost simple machines lesson might have been executed.  Nevertheless,  Mayfield’s descriptions are helpful so that these interpretations do adhere to what was intended to teach the principles described. 

 

Background:

 

Before continuing, read carefully Bob Mayfield’s discussion of the proposed simple machines experiment.  How the demonstration evolved is, in itself, a useful learning experience teaching the principles of  simple machines.  The culmination of the iterative process was an inclined plane, screw, wheeled cart, and  pulley experiment.   Obviously, no benefit results from rolling a cart up an inline plane with gravity absent.  However, the use of a screw driver, whether on earth or in orbit, offers the ability to overcome friction between  screw threads and the penetrated material.  Likewise, the inclined plane, though useless as a lifting assist, has benefits as a wedge in separating surfaces held together by adhesive, pressure or other means.   

 

As Mayfield elaborates, the challenge in a space environment  is understanding the application of simple machines in zero-gravity.  He suggests the pulley as an example.  The device provides a mechanical advantage which is directional.  Should a solar panel or other mechanism malfunction in a binding fashion, the mechanical advantage applied by a pulley would be advantageous.  The force an astronaut could apply by simply grabbing and pulling the “stuck” structure might not be sufficient.      

 

Likewise, even though rolling the cart up the aluminum inclined plane has no merit, using wheel-like ball bearings to overcome fiction in a whirling centrifuge has advantages.   The space station actually has a trolley type apparatus whose wheel-like transportation caddy applies the advantage of the simple machine known as the wheel.  Again, simple machines overcome the resistance of sliding friction even in the weightlessness of space.   

 

A Classroom Version of Christa’s

Simple Machines Lost Lesson

 

            The following demonstration  replicates Christa’s experiment:

Principles:

 

Explain to the class that there are six simple machines and list them: lever, wheel and axle, screw, inclined plane, wedge, and the pulley.  The purpose of a simple machine is to make it easier to do work.  Whether work is mowing the law or digging dirt, the tools used are a combination of the six basic simple machines listed above.  Perhaps,  the class  has  reached a math maturity to understand that work is defined as applying a force through a distance.   If that is so, explain that work is equal to the applied force times the distance the force is applied through.                                                  

To help the students grasp the concept, a simple means is imagining that a given job takes a given amount of work.  Since the amount of work is the product of force applied for a given distance, it is logical that increasing the distance diminishes the force needed to do the same amount of work.  For example, a weaker student, not able to apply much force to an object, is able to do the same amount of work as a strong student by using a simple machine.  The machine allows the student to apply a reduced force over an increased distance, even though the forces applied by the students   move the object  the same  distance.                                                                                                          

 

Though mysterious, it is defined by the term mechanical advantage.  This is the concept that explains the advantage of simple machines:  increasing the applied distance of a reduced force to obtain the same result in work done.  The ratio of the distance  a force is indirectly applied to an object of mass to directly moving the object is known as the mechanical advantage of a simple or compound machine. Simply put: mechanical advantage is the exchange of force for distance.                                                    

 

Again, an example is helpful.  Lifting a one pound weight vertically without the help of a machine indicates a mechanical advantage of one, i.e., nothing is gained to help lift the weight  However, if one pushes that same block up an inclined plane (a ramp) which reaches the same height as  lifting the weight vertically, the force needed is proportionally less based on the length of the incline.   If a one pound weight is lifted vertically one foot, it would require a pound of force to move the weight one foot. A “foot-pound” of work is done..                                                                                         

 

Using  a ramp (inclined plane) which is two foot long and a foot tall requires approximately half as much force to reach the one foot elevation.  This is true even  though the weight moved two feet instead of one foot vertically. Mathematically, a half pound of force was applied for two feet.   Therefore, .5 pounds of applied force times two feet  amounts to a foot pound of work.  Equal amounts of work are done in both cases even though the second case required half the force.  The mechanical advantage of the ramp is two.                                                                                                                   

 

Of course, the force needed to overcome the resisting friction of the weight sliding against the ramp surface has been ignored.  If taken into account for the ramp, greater work would have been required than a foot pound.  The example gives the ideal mechanical advantage not the actual mechanical advantage.   Such is the case when losses are ignored from friction, air resistance and other forces.  

 

Materials:

 

1)      An inclined block of wood, 2” wide by 3” high with a  10” long incline (cut from a building framing wood stud) or simply use a board as seen below with one end propped on the edge of a chair 

2) A matchbook car with less than a two inch wheelbase.  

3) A screwdriver and wood screws. 

4) A hammer and nail

5) A pair of pulleys. 

6) cord 

7) A spring scale to measure weight or applied force.                                                                             

 

Process of Experiments:

 

*1. Collect the materials listed above. (See above photos.) Attach the spring scale hook to the toy car and slowly pull the car up the inclined plane noting the indicated force measured by the spring scale.  Multiply the force in pounds by the length of the ramp in feet to determine the work done.  What is the mechanical advantage of the inclined plane?

*2. Attach the spring scale via its hook to the toy car.  (See pictures below.) Attach the other end of the scale to a short length of the cord.  Thread the rope through the pulley.  Hold the pulley hook  above the floor.  Pull the cord slowly and steadily so that the car is elevated vertically above the floor a given height. Record the spring force while lifting the car.   What is the mechanical advantage of the pulley?  What was the advantage of using the pulley?  

*3. Add a second pulley to the apparatus as shown below.  Again, pull the cord elevating the car a given height above the floor.  Observe the reading on the spring scale as the cord is slowly and steadily pulled. 

 

 *4. Hammer a nail lightly into the wood ramp to make a “starter hole” for a screw.    After removing the nail, place the pointed end of a screw into the starter hole and begin screwing the screw into the board with the screwdriver.  Note how difficult it is to turn the screw driver.  Remove the screw and repeat the process with a screw with twice as many threads per inch.  Notice how much easier it is to turn the screw driver, but how much more slowly the screw penetrates the board. Explain the difference in turning force and penetration progress. The explanation is that the screw threads are, in effect, inclined planes of different lengths wrapped around the circumference of each of the screws.  Because one is longer than the other, the force required is less. 

Compare the mechanical advantage of the two screws.

Analysis:

The most useful concept learned from performing the lost simple machines experiments is the concept of work as a product of applying a constant force over a prescribed distance.  Understanding the benefit of simple machines to all mankind comes from grasping this principle.  Each application of a simple machine should address the concept.  Even though the single pulley provides no mechanical advantage, the ability to redirect the application of force is significant.  However, a second pulley should be added to demonstrate the mechanical advantage of a pulley system.  

 

Questions to Answer:

1. What was the ratio of the force divided by the distance the car moved up the incline in the first experiment?  How much work was accomplished in foot pounds in route to the final elevation?  How much work was done when the car was lifted vertically to the same height about floor?  What was the ratio of the force needed to pull the car up the ramp to the force needed to lift the car vertically to the same elevation?  What is the mechanical advantage of the inclined plane?                                                                                         

2. In the second experiment using a single pulley, how much force was required to lift the car three feet above the floor?  Repeat the lifting of the car pulling the cord in a different direction while recording the force required to lift the car to the same height above the floor.  Did the direction in which the cord was pulled make any difference when the car was lifted a second time?                                    

3. When a second pulley was added to the apparatus shown for the second experiment, what was the force required to lift the car three foot off the floor using the pair of pulleys?  How far did the rope have to be pulled to lift the car three feet off the floor compared to the distance the rope had to be pulled with a single pulley to lift the car three feet?  What was the ratio of the forces between the single pulley lifting of the car and the double pulley lifting?   What is the mechanical advantage of the two pulley apparatus?  What are the two ways to calculate the mechanical advantage?                                                                            

4.  After comparing the force needed to screw each of the two screws in the third experiment, think of a way that the mechanical advantage of the screws might be calculated.Besides the threads being inclined planes surrounding each screw, what other simple machine is suggested which assists in cutting into the wood fibers?   How might friction be reduced so that less force is needed to turn the screwdriver?

 

What Would Have Happened on Challenger?

 

This question is best answered by actually performing the above experiment.  In the process, ask these questions:

 

1) What added resistance exists on earth, not present for the Challenger demonstration?

 

2) What danger/peril might one encounter performing the experiment on Challenger not present on earth?  Likewise,             what danger/peril might one encounter performing the experiment on earth which would not be a factor on board   Challenger?    

 

3) Do you believe Christa would have been successful in demonstrating the simple machines experimentas Mayfield describes?Why or why not?

4) How would you suggest changing the proposed   experiment to assure a more likely successful outcome?   Likewise, what might have been  eliminated to assure successful results? 

 

5) What about the filming of the demonstration? Would it have been easier on Challenger or on earth?

 

Back to the Table of Contents

 

For added information or copies of the project, contact the project editor Jerry Woodfill, at ER7, NASA JSC, Houston , TX 77058 .  Phone: 281-483-6331,  E-mail: jared.woodfill-1@nasa.gov

 

The project is a work of the Automation, Robotics, and Simulation Division of the NASA Johnson Space Center , Houston , Texas . As part of the Space Educators’ Handbook, its ID identifier  is OMB/NASA Report #S677.