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    Simple Machines!: With 25 Science Projects for Kids
    Simple Machines!: With 25 Science Projects for Kids
    Simple Machines!: With 25 Science Projects for Kids
    Ebook178 pages1 hour

    Simple Machines!: With 25 Science Projects for Kids

    By Anita Yasuda and Bryan Stone

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    About this ebook

    Does your coat have a zipper? Did you eat breakfast with a fork? You’re using simple machines!

    From butter knives to seesaws, rolling pins to catapults, we are surrounded by simple machines!Simple Machines! With 25 Science Projects for Kids astounds readers with the ingenuity they already possess and inspires them to look differently at the objects they use every day.

    What do a fork and an axe have in common? How do pulleys get a flag up a flagpole?Simple Machines! introduces kids to the concept of mechanical advantage and harnesses kid-power by inviting them to build machines of their own design. This book also opens eyes and minds to the diversity of machines in their lives, and sparks the imagination with challenge, humor, and achievable projects.

    Simple Machines! dedicates a chapter to each of the six simple machines that were identified centuries ago: levers, inclined planes, pulleys, screws, wedges, and wheels and axles. Kids develop analytical skills as they figure out where force is applied and what kind of work it generates. Essential questions, fascinating facts, and links to online primary sources make student-led learning fun and productive! Through science-minded STEM projects and investigative engineering experiments, kids develop critical and creative thinking skills about the roles simple machines play in our world and their importance to human civilization.

    Simple Machines! is part of a set of two Explore Technology books that introduce young digital natives to the history, science, and engineering of the tech world in which we live, using hands-on STEM activities, essential questions, links to online primary sources and real-life connections. The other title in this series isRobotics!

    Nomad Press books integrate content with participation. Common Core State Standards, the Next Generation Science Standards, and STEM Education all place project-based learning as key building blocks in education. Combining content with inquiry-based projects stimulates learning and makes it active and alive. Nomad’s unique approach simultaneously grounds kids in factual knowledge while allowing them the space to be curious, creative, and critical thinkers.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherNomad Press
    Release dateAug 6, 2019
    ISBN9781619308152
    Simple Machines!: With 25 Science Projects for Kids
    Author

    Anita Yasuda

    Anita Yasuda is the author of more than one hundred books for children. She lives with her family and her dog in Huntington Beach, California.

    Read more from Anita Yasuda

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      Book preview

      Simple Machines! - Anita Yasuda

      More engineering titles in the Explore Your World! series

      Check out more titles at www.nomadpress.net

      Nomad Press

      A division of Nomad Communications

      10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

      Copyright © 2019 by Nomad Press. All rights reserved.

      No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from

      the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review or for limited educational use.

      The trademark Nomad Press and the Nomad Press logo are trademarks of Nomad Communications, Inc.

      Educational Consultant, Marla Conn

      Questions regarding the ordering of this book should be addressed to

      Nomad Press

      2456 Christian St.

      White River Junction, VT 05001

      www.nomadpress.net

      Printed in the United States of America.

      CONTENTS

      Timeline

      Introduction

      What Are Simple Machines?

      Chapter 1

      The All About Forces

      Chapter 2

      Levers

      Chapter 3

      Inclined Planes

      Chapter 4

      Wheels and Axles

      Chapter 5

      Screws

      Chapter 6

      Wedges

      Chapter 7

      Pulleys

      Glossary*Metric Conversions

      Resources*Essential Questions*Index

      Interested in primary sources? Look for this icon. Use a smartphone or tablet app to scan the QR code and explore more! Photos are also primary sources because a photograph takes a picture at the moment something happens.

      You can find a list of URLs on the Resources page. If the QR code doesn’t work, try searching the internet with the Keyword Prompts to find other helpful sources.

      KEYWORD PROMPTS

      TIMELINE

      Prehistoric peoples use levers to dig and plant, and as oars.

      5,000 BCE:

      The Egyptians use a lever as a balance to weigh gold.

      4,000 BCE:

      The Greeks use waterwheels to grind grain.

      3,500 BCE:

      Potters use wheels to shape their clay in Mesopotamia.

      3,000 BCE:

      People in North America use bows and arrows for hunting.

      2,500 BCE:

      The Egyptians use ramps to construct the Great Pyramid.

      2,000 BCE:

      People in the Middle East learn how to make lighter wooden wheels with spokes.

      1,500 BCE:

      People in Mesopotamia use rope pulleys to lift water.

      500–1,000 BCE:

      The Chinese invent the spinning wheel.

      476 BCE:

      Construction of the Great Wall of China begins. Many simple machines are used.

      100–200 BCE:

      The screw is used as a device to lift water and in other machines, including olive presses.

      100 BCE:

      The Romans build arches with the wedgeshaped key stone.

      70 CE:

      Construction begins on the Roman Colosseum using simple and compound machines. When built, elevators will transport animals and props to the fighting arena.

      581 CE:

      Construction begins on the Grand Canal in China. Some sections use ramps.

      1450:

      Construction of Machu Picchu in the Andes Mountains of South America begins. Many simple machines are used.

      1687:

      Isaac Newton publishes his three laws of motion.

      1853:

      The first commercial elevator goes into service.

      1893:

      George Ferris builds his Ferris wheel for the World’s Fair in Chicago.

      1969:

      Engineers build the Saint-Louis-Arzviller inclined plane.

      2016:

      A Latvian company creates the largest Rube Goldberg machine.

      2019:

      One the world’s biggest Ferris wheels will be the Ain Dubai.

      INTRODUCTION

      WHAT ARE SIMPLE MACHINES?

      People have been using simple machines for a very long time. These machines don’t have to be plugged in or turned on—they don’t use electricity or gasoline. They work with muscle power. A simple machine is a tool that uses one movement to complete work. All of us use simple machines in our daily lives to make work easier.

      Imagine the year is 2470 BCE. It’s your first day on the job at the Great Pyramid of Giza. The desert sun bakes the quarry below. Wiping the sweat from your forehead, you pick up your chisel. You need to finish cutting this massive stone block. There’s not a moment of rest for a worker such as you!

      WORDS TO KNOW

      simple machine: a tool with few or no moving parts that uses one movement to complete work. The six simple machines are the lever, inclined plane, wheel and axle, screw, wedge, and pulley.

      BCE: put after a date, BCE stands for Before Common Era and counts down to zero. CE stands for Common Era and counts up from zero. This book was printed in 2019 CE.

      quarry: a pit where stone is cut.

      chisel: a tool with a long handle and a sharp wedge.

      mechanical advantage: something making work easier.

      force: a push or pull that changes an object’s motion.

      fulcrum: the point or support where a lever turns.

      axle: a rod on which a wheel rotates.

      rotate: to turn around a fixed point.

      The Great Pyramid is so large that it’s made of more than 2 million blocks of stone! How did ancient people build such towering structures as the Great Pyramid? They had no bulldozers or backhoes or cranes. But they did have simple machines.

      People discovered that simple machines gave them a mechanical advantage. These machines made it easier for them to get work done.

      In science, the term work does not mean homework or chores. It means using a force to move an object. Turning on a light switch is an example of this kind of work. Opening or closing a door behind you or shoveling a snowy path are others.

      There are six types of simple machines—the lever, inclined plane, wheel and axle, screw, wedge, and pulley.

      Play some games to find out more about forces and motion! Check out the videos on this website.

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