Levers
Purpose of Levers:
Levers
work with the strength that the operator applies to the job in order to do more
work.
Examples of Levers:
Seesaws, balance scales, scissors lifts, bottle openers, fishing poles.
How
to Use Levers:
Levers
have three parts: Fulcrum, Effort, and Load.
·
Fulcrum is the place that the lever rocks
back and forth, or the pivot point.
·
The
Effort is the amount of force the operator has to apply.
·
The
Load is the object to be lifted or lowered.
·
When the fulcrum is in the middle of the
lever the amount of effort the
operator pushes down equals exactly the amount of the
·
When
the fulcrum is closer to the load the operator does not have to push down as
hard to lift the same weight, the difference
is the operator will have to push down a longer distance.
·
There
are three classes of levers.
·
In
the First Class Lever the fulcrum is in the middle with effort
·
In
the Second Class Lever the load is in the middle with the
fulcrum on the left and effort on the right.
·
In
the Third Class Lever the effort is in the middle with
Church,
R. Jok, Beckman & Jax,
http://www.beakman.com/lever/lever.html. (1999).
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