Simple Machines

This week we began our science unit on simple machines. We discussed how simple machines were some of the very first pieces of technology that humans invented, in order to do more work than they could with their muscle power alone. We built a marble ramp to show how and inlined plane can move objects. Using Lego Duplo pieces, we built a seesaw that acts as a lever, allowing one Lego person to balance two Lego people on the other side of the seesaw if she is sitting further away from the center than they are. We also built a Lego car to show how wheels and axles allow us to move heavy weights along a flat surface. Gears, wheels with teeth, can be connected to cause a complex chain of events.