Simple Machines Exploration - Building Blocks of Design

2. Project Overview • Its Your Future • Let’s Get Started • Your First Robot • Simple Machines & Motion • Chain Reaction Challenge • Key Concepts • Mechanisms • Highrise Challenge • Smart Machines • Chain Reaction Programming Challenge • Smarter Machines • Highrise Programming Challenge

3. SIMPLE MACHINES & MOTIONS The purpose of this lesson is to introduce students to simple machines, pendulums, and corresponding terminology, then have them apply that knowledge through build and design activities.

4. LESSON 04 STARTER Prints out for the lesson Matching Exercise Student hand-out Sample Builds Teacher US guide sheet Idea Book Pages 1, 2

5. LESSON 04

6. LESSON 04 STARTER Learning objective: Be able to identify the six types of simple machines visually. Learn key terminology related to motion and the use of simple machines. Learn how simple machines make work easier. Task 1: Simple Machines and Motion This lesson focuses on the most basic building blocks of design, simple machines and motion. The basic knowledge of simple machines and motion allows you to better understand how things work, provides a foundation for designing mechanisms, and is the first step in learning the principles of mechanical design.

7. SIMPLE MACHINES Simple Machines Simple Machines are tools used to make work easier. In science, workis defined as a force acting on an object to move it across a distance. Pushing, pulling, and lifting are common forms of work. A forceis any push or pull that causes an object to change its position (movement), direction, or shape.

8. SIMPLE MACHINES Wheel & Axle - Makes work easier by moving objects across distances. The wheel, the round end, turns with the axle, the cylindrical post, causing movement. On a wagon, for example, a container rests on top of the axle. Wedge - Instead of using the smooth side of the inclined plane to make work easier, you can also use the pointed edges to do other kinds of work. For example, you can use the edge to push things apart. Then, this movable inclined plane is a wedge. An axe blade is one example of a wedge. Inclined Plane - A flat surface (or plane) that is slanted, or inclined, so it can help move objects across distances. A common inclined plane is a ramp. Lever - Any tool that pries something loose is a lever. Levers can also lift objects. A lever is an arm that “pivots” (or turns) against a fulcrum (the point or support on which a lever pivots). Think of the claw end of a hammer that you use to pry nails loose. It’s a lever. A see-saw is also a lever.

9. SIMPLE MACHINES Pulley - Instead of an axle, a wheel could also rotate a rope, cord, or belt. This variation of the wheel and axle is the pulley. In a pulley, a cord wraps around a wheel. As the wheel rotates, the cord moves in either direction. Now, attach a hook to the cord, and you can use the wheel’s rotation to raise and lower objects making work easier. On a flagpole, for example, a rope is attached to a pulley to raise and lower the flag more easily. Screw -Take an inclined plane and wrap it around a cylinder. Its sharp edge becomes another simple tool: a screw. Put a metal screw beside a ramp and it’s hard to see similarities, but a screw is actually just another kind of inclined plane. One example of how a screw helps you do work is that it is easily turned to move itself through a solid space like a block of wood.

10. SIMPLE MACHINES Task 1: Fill in the missing words!! Can you complete the worksheet, filling in the missing words from the word bank! If you can’t, don’t worry, your teacher will go through it with you.

11. SIMPLE MACHINES Task 2: The build Using the VEX IQ Simple Machines & Motion Sample Assemblies Instructions, build the pendulum as a team.

12. SIMPLE MACHINES Simple Motion Simple Motion (more fully known as Simple Harmonic Motion) is what happens when an object is in motion in a non-complex periodic way. That is, the object experiences a force that moves it, the movement occurs and reaches some maximum value, and then the object returns to the “original” conditions and repeats the process. Let’s take the example of a pendulum and consider what happens. A pendulum is defined as a body suspended from a fixed point so that it can swing back and forth under the influence of gravity as a force.

13. SIMPLE MACHINES Task 3: The build Using the VEX IQ Simple Machines & Motion Sample Assemblies Instructions, build one or more of the assemblies (inclined plane, lever, pulley). Discuss how each simple machine works and what practical use each has.

14. LESSON 04 PLENARY As a class, let us consider the following questions?A. How many of the 6 types of machine mechanisms can you name? B. What is the purpose of a mechanism? C. What is friction?D. What is any push or pull that causes an object to change its position, direction, or shape. ?

15. SUMMARY Learning objective: Be able to identify the six types of simple machines visually. Learn key terminology related to motion and the use of simple machines. Learn how simple machines make work easier. • Today you have: • Been able to identify the six types of simple machines visually. • Learnt key terminology related to motion and the use of simple machines. • Learnt how simple machines make work easier.