Man first started using machines to make work easier and faster.

How much easier and faster a machine makes your work is the mechanical advantage of that machine. In science terms, the mechanical advantage is the number of times a machine multiplies your effort force. To find the MA of a machine, you can divide the resistance force by the effort force. Most of the time the resistance force is the weight of the object in Newtons.

A screw is one of the most commonly used mechanical devices in the world. It is machine that converts rotational motion into linear motion. A screw has a long and thin metal shaft with threads spiraling along its length. It also had a turning head with a groove where a screwdriver can be used to rotate the screw. The strength of a screws hold depends on the width of the threads and the distance between them. The closer and wider the threads, the stronger the hold will be. However, more threads require more rotations to attach the screw and wider threads require more force in the rotations. The mechanical advantage if the screw increases when the angle of the spiral increases. The screw has become an integral part of the mechanical age. It can be used to: nut and bolt Hold things together. Car juck Lift heavy loads. Drill gun Drill holes on objects. Sometimes, its not easy to lift objects with only human force. This problem can be fixed with a help of a simple machine like pulley. What is a Pulley? A basic pulley comprises of a wheel on fixed axle, with a groove along the edges to guide a rope or cable. Where, Load = the weight of an object Effort = the amount of force required to life or move this object. When you put two or more wheels together, and run a rope around them, you have created a great lifting machine. As you add more pulleys, you increase your mechanical advantage and it becomes very easy to life the same load.

The trade-off is that as you increase the number of pulleys, you require a greater amount of rope to achieve same result. Hence, by decresing the effort needed to life the load you have to apply the force for a longer period of time. When we have to move a real heavy load, we have to use a great deal of force to push it because of friction and gravitational force. A wheel and axle fixes this problem in a jiffy. Learn about this simple machine, and see how it reduces the effort required to move certain objects through this fun and animated learning module.

When we have to move a real heavy load, we have to use a great deal of force to push it, because of: Frication: Force resisting the motion of the object on the ground. Gravitational force: Force that pulls the object to the ground. The Wheel and axle solves this problem in jiffy! In this simple, a wheel is locked to a central axle and they rotate each other when a force is applied on either one of them. When we place a neavy load on the axle and push it, the rolling of the wheels reduces the friction to a large extent. However, the frictional force does not depend on the surface area of the object. The friction depends on its mass and what material it is made of. When there is less friction, it takes less force to move something. The effort needed to overcome the resistance, acting upon the axle is relatively small. We see the wheel and axle setup in many of our day to day activities. A longer motion at the edge of the wheel is converted to a shorter more powerful motion at the axle. We see the wheel and axle setup in many of our day to day activities. In reverse, a short powerful force at the axle will move the wheels edge at a greater distance.

Inclined Plane An inclined plane is a ramp that assists moving heavy objects up and down heights. It is a plane surface set an angle, other than a right angle, against a horizontal surface.

If Dhakkan in the above video wants to lift and place this barrel on a ledge, it is a bit difficult. With the help of an inclined plane, Dhakkan can now roll the same up a sloping surface, with much lesser effort. This is because, the force required to raise an object at a distance is greatly reduced by increasing the distance over which the force must be applied. So the mechanical advantage is the more the distance to be covered, the lesser the force needed to move the load to the raised height.