As you just learned, the definition of work is using a force to move an object. It can sometimes be very difficult to move an object by yourself. As a result, people have come up with ways to make work easier to do! In this activity, you will learn about some of the simple machines that have been developed to do work.

Thousands of years ago, people had to do everything by hand, using only their own strength. As societies grew and developed, people came up with ideas for simple machines that they could use to help them to do work that would otherwise be impossible to do by manpower alone. Simple machines are described as machines that have one movement to help do work. They have few working parts. They make our lives easier and help us to move things. Some common simple machines that we still use today include the lever, wheel and axle, inclined plane, wedge, screw, and pulley.

Lever — a bar or rod that rotates on a fulcrum or pivot point

 

 

Wheel and axle — a type of lever that uses a wheel with a rod attached in the middle as an axle to help it to lift or move loads

Inclined plane (ramp) — a sloped surface that makes lifting objects easier

 

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Wedge — a type of inclined plane with one or two sloped surfaces; a wedge is usually a piece of wood or metal that is thinner on one end