Investigatory Project—Lever

A more proficient use of lever: A heavier lift Introduction A. Background of the study Buildings, infrastructures and a like were built using the help of machines. But have you ever ruminated how ancient structures like pyramids were built? Simple machines figured it out. Simple machines are any device that only requires the application of a single force to work. It is a tool used to make work easier. It gives mechanical advantage. This means that if you use a lever and the mechanical advantage it provides, you can lift an object that's much heavier than you are because the lever multiplies your effort. Lever, it is often used to move heavy loads with less effort. It is a rigid object that is used with an appropriate fulcrum point to multiply the mechanical force that can be applied to another object. B. Statement of the problem A study on the proficiency of lever in lifting heavy objects. Specific Objectives †¢To build a tabletop lever and investigate how changing the length of the effort arm affects the amount of effort it takes to lift an object. †¢To discover other factors that can affect the proficiency of lever. 2 E. Review of related literature The following definitions are the terms and concepts regarding the said investigatory project. Simple machines is any device that only requires the application of a single force to work. It is a tool used to make work easier. lever magnifies force or velocity. It is often used to move heavy loads with less effort. It is a rigid object that is used with an appropriate fulcrum or pivot point to multiply the mechanical force that can be applied to another object. Fulcrum , the support about which a lever turns. Beam, The bar of a balance from which weighing pans are suspended. Parts of the lever (in the experiment, still undefined) Effort end †¢Effort arm †¢Load end †¢Load arm *The First Class Lever, Second Class Lever and the Third Class lever. The only difference between them is the location of the fulcrum. *Levers help you move items that are very heavy. In the First Class lever the fulcrum is located in the middle. The load is on one end and the force is on the other. (crowbar) Second Class the fulcrum is on the end, the resistance force, the load, is in the middle, and the effort is at the other end. (wheelbarrow) The Third Class fulcrum is on the end of one side, the effort force is in the middle, and the resistance force, the load, is at the the top. baseball bat) *Levers are easy to spot because they help us in our lives. Some examples are: see-saw, claw hammer, crow bar, bottle opener, Piano keys, and car jacks. Bibliography Definition of terms: McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright  © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. http://encyclozine. com/science/physics/machines http://encyclopedia2. thefreedictionary. com/simple+machine http://www. thefreedictionary. com/beam Methodology A. Materials and equipment †¢Ruler (with centimetres) †¢Plastic bag †¢Masking tape †¢Scissors †¢Pencil †¢Soap box with soap in it †¢Marbles (in same sizes) B. Procedure To start this project, you will need to build your lever. The ruler will be the beam for the lever. Tape a bar of soap to one end of the ruler. The soap is the load you will be trying to lift. Next you will need to construct a container out of your plastic bag to hold the marbles in. The bag and the marbles you'll place in the bag will be the effort. As you add more marbles, you are increasing the weight in the bag and thus, the effort until you eventually have enough effort to lift the soap bar. Put a piece of tape approximately 1 centimeter (cm) from the top of a plastic bag . Fold the taped part in half. Using a pair of scissors, cut a slit long enough to allow the ruler to slip through. Slip the free end of the ruler into the slit. Tape the bag to the ruler so it does not slide around. Be careful not to tape the bag closed, as you will need to add marbles in it. tape pencil to the edge of a table. Place your lever on the fulcrum. The bar of soap should be resting on the table, and the bag for the marbles should be dangling over the edge of the table. Position the ruler so that the length of the effort arm is 6 cm. You can use the markings on the ruler to measure 6 cm. Add marbles to the bag, one at a time, until the bar of soap lifts off the table. Continue increasing the effort arm length by 2-cm increments until the measures 24 cm. Materials and Equipment †¢Metric ruler (preferably one that is stiff and has centimeter markings) †¢Plastic sandwich bag (1) †¢Tape (preferably masking tape) †¢Scissors †¢Pen or pencil †¢Bar of soap (still in its packaging) †¢Pennies (approximately $3 worth; alternatively, marbles, beans, or some other small numerous item will work) †¢Lab notebook †¢Graph paper Experimental Procedure 1. To start this project, you will need to build your lever. The ruler will be the beam for the lever. Tape a bar of soap to one end of the ruler. The soap is the load you will be trying to lift. 2. Next you will need to construct a container out of your plastic bag to hold the pennies in. The bag and the pennies you'll place in the bag will be the effort. As you add more pennies, you are increasing the weight in the bag—and thus, the effort—until you eventually have enough effort to lift the soap bar (the load). a. Put a piece of tape approximately 1 centimeter (cm) from the zipper part of the top of a plastic sandwich bag. Do this on both the inside and the outside of one side of the plastic bag. See Figure 2. a. below. b. Fold the taped section in half, width-wise. Using a pair of scissors, cut a slit long enough to allow the ruler to slip through. See Figure 2. b. below. c. Slip the free end of the ruler (the effort end) into the slit. Tape the bag to the ruler so it does not slide around. Be careful not to tape the bag closed, as you will need to add pennies inside it (the effort). 1. ncrease the length of the effort arm by 2 cm (total length should now be 8 cm) and repeat step 5 again. Did it take more or fewer pennies to lift the load? Record your findings. 2. Continue increasing the effort arm length by 2-cm increments and retrying the experiment until the effort arm measures 24 cm. Don't forget to record all the data in your data table. 3. Analyze your data. You can make a line graph with the length of the effort arm on the x-axis and the number of pennies it takes to lift the load on the y-axis. Do you see a pattern? What happens when you double the distance? What happens when you quadruple the distance? To use the computer to make your graph you can visit the Create A Graph website. . You are trying to determine the relationship between two variables: the effort (# of pennies) it takes to lift the load (bar of soap) and the length of the effort arm, so choose the XY graph. b. Select the Data Tab, fill in: ?The graph title ?X-axis label (remember, the x-axis is the length of the effort arm) ? Y-axis label (remember, the y-axis is the number of pennies is takes to lift the load) ? In the Data Set box, tell the program you have 12 data points. ?For each point, fill in the length of the effort arm (x) and the number of pennies (y). So, point 1x would be 6 since you took your first data reading when the effort arm was 6 cm long. Point 1y would be the number of pennies, recorded in your data table, that it took to lift the soap bar at an effort arm length of 6 cm. ?You can use the remaining options to customize the font styles and colors of your chart. c. When you are done, print it out. Variations †¢What happens if you double the load by adding two soap bars? Does the effort (number of pennies in this science project) required to lift the load also double? What if you triple or quadruple the load? Use a kitchen scale to determine how much the load (soap bar) weighs and how much the effort (number of pennies needed to lift the soap bar) weighs. Can you use this information to calculate how much effort it would take to lift you? †¢In your background research you learned that there were several classes of levers. In the project above, you built a class 1 lever. Try building a class 2 lever, too. Compare t he class 1 and 2 levers. Do they require the same effort to lift the load? Remember to keep the distance between the fulcrum and the effort end the same when comparing the levers!