INTRODUCTION Machine, simple device that affects the force, or effort, needed to do a certain amount of work.

Machines can make a tough job seem easier by enabling a person to apply less force or to apply force in a direction that is easier to manipulate. Machines lessen the force needed to perform work by lengthening the distance over which the force is applied. Although less force is subsequently used, the amount of work that results remains the same. Machines can also increase the speed at which work makes an object travel, but increasing speed requires the application of more effort. There are four types of simple machines: the lever, the pulley, the inclined plane, and the wheel and axle. Each machine affects the direction or the amount of effort needed to do work. Most mechanical machines, such as automobiles or power tools, are complex machines composed of many parts. However, no matter how complicated a machine is, it is composed of some combination of the four simple machines. Although these simple machines have been known and used for thousands of years, no other simple machines have been discovered. Two other common simple machines, the screw and the wedge, are really adaptations of the inclined plane. Some common examples of simple machines are the shovel (a form of lever), the pulley at the top of a flagpole, the steering wheel of an automobile (a form of wheel and axle), and the wheelchair ramp (a form of inclined plane). An everyday example of a complex machine is the can opener, which combines a lever (the hinged handle), a wheel and axle (the turning knob), and a wedge (the sharpened cutting disk). II. WORK

Machines help people do work by changing the amount of force and the distance needed to move objects. Work, in physics, is the amount of force used to move an object multiplied by the distance over which the force is applied. This can be written in mathematical terms: Work = Force Distance Force is defined as a push or a pull exerted on one body by another, such as a hand pushing a book across a table. Distance refers to the distance a load is moved by the force. The advantage that a machine gives its user by affecting the amount of force needed is called the machines mechanical advantage, or MA. Knowing the mechanical advantage of a machine allows a user to predict how much force is needed to lift a given object. A. How Machines Work

A machine can make a given task seem easier by reducing the amount of force needed to move an object, by changing the direction in which the force must be applied, or by doing both. A machine decreases the amount of force needed by increasing the distance over which the effort is applied to move the object. The amount of work needed to overcome gravity and lift a given load always remains the same, but spreading the necessary effort out over a longer distance makes the task seem easier. This is why walking gradually up a gentle slope is easier than walking up a steep slope. The distance walked on the gentle slope is longer, but the effort needed to reach the top is less. A gentle slope is a form of inclined plane. Applying effort over a greater distance takes more time, and this slows down the speed of work. Some machines can actually speed up a task. They do this by reducing the distance over which the effort is applied. If the distance in the equation defining work (Work = Force Distance) is reduced, then the force must therefore be increased to keep work constant. Increasing the speed at which a task is performed requires more force than would otherwise be necessary. The wheel and axle and certain types of levers are simple machines that can either speed up a task (requiring more effort) or slow down a task (requiring less effort). The various gears on a multispeed bicycle (another complex machine) work in a manner similar to that of the wheel and axle. Some gears require more effort, but they make the bicycle travel faster on flat terrain. Other gears require less effort and are useful for climbing hills. People use simple machines, such as levers and pulleys, to make manual chores easier. The mechanical energy in a persons muscles makes the machine do work. Not all machines use muscle power, however, to do work. A complex machine, such as an airplane engine or an elevator, is made up of many simple machines. Airplane engines and elevators are not powered by hand. Complex machines often use the energy stored in chemical substances, such as airplane fuel or the energy stored in electricity, to provide the necessary force to do work. An airplane engine uses the combustion, or rapid burning, of airplane fuel to power the engine that turns the propeller. An elevator uses large engines, usually powered by electricity, to pull cables that raise and lower the elevator car. Electricity also powers the levers that help open and shut the elevator doors. B. Mechanical Advantage and Friction

Measuring the mechanical advantage (MA) is a mathematical way to determine how much a machine affects the amount of force needed to do work. Scientists find the mechanical advantage of a machine by dividing the force the machine delivers by the effort put into the machine. The theoretical, or ideal, mechanical advantage of a machine is the advantage it would produce if the machine were perfect. In simple machines, the main source of imperfection is friction. Friction results from two bodies moving against each other in different directions. Friction always opposes motion and makes doing work harder. Since friction is present in almost every machine, the actual mechanical advantage is always less than the theoretical mechanical advantage. Because simple machines increase mechanical advantage by increasing the distance over which the effort is applied, one way to compute theoretical mechanical advantage is to divide the

distance the effort is applied by the distance the load actually travels. For example, raising a load 5 m (16 ft) off the ground is easier if the load is moved up a gradual slope, or an inclined plane, rather than lifted straight up. Moving the load along a 10-m (32-ft) inclined plane would provide a mechanical advantage of 10 divided by 5, or 2. This means that the work was twice as easy, or that only half as much effort was needed to raise the load. Because of the inclined plane, however, the load needed to be pushed twice as far to end up 5 meters above the ground. C. Efficiency

Another factor that people sometimes compute for machines is their efficiency, or the ratio of the work that results to the amount of work put into the machine. The efficiency of a machine is usually expressed as a percentage and can vary from 5 percent to 95 percent. A perfect machine would be 100 percent efficient. Most simple machines are very efficient, but they always lose some efficiency due to friction. An automobile engine is much less efficient because much of the energy used to move the crankshaft is lost to friction in the form of heat dissipating from the engine. Microsoft Encarta 2009. 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.