Abstract
Simple machines are devices that change the amount, or magnitude, of force or the direction of a force being exerted on something. The standard list of simple machines (at least as far as school science standards define them) are the pulley, screw, wheel and axle, inclined plane, wedge, and lever. Most of these are very old—the wheel’s origin is lost in antiquity, Archimedes knew about the lever, screw, and pulley about 2,300 years ago, and the rest were used to build the pyramids (but not included in Archimedes’s list of machines).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Joan Horvath and Rich Cameron
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Horvath, J., Cameron, R. (2016). Simple Machines. In: 3D Printed Science Projects. Apress, Berkeley, CA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-1323-0_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-1323-0_5
Publisher Name: Apress, Berkeley, CA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4842-1324-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-4842-1323-0
eBook Packages: Professional and Applied ComputingApress Access BooksProfessional and Applied Computing (R0)