View Single Post
Old 07-22-2004, 11:06 AM   #79 (permalink)
KnifeMissile
 
KnifeMissile's Avatar
 
Location: Waterloo, Ontario
Quote:
Originally posted by Unknown Poster
Quote:
Originally posted by ARTelevision
the simple machines:

lever
inclined plane
wheel and axle
screw
wedge
pulley

They are so perfect they reveal not only how the physical world works but how our minds work as well!
Isn't a screw just a modified inclined plane? I think I remember that from school.
If you're going to go that vein, out of ARTelevision's list, there are only three machines. The lever, the inclined plane, and the pulley.

The wheel and axle is just a lever that rotates 360°.
The screw is just an inclined plane wraped around a cylinder.
The wedge is just an mobile inclined plane.

The three simple machines that I listed are, however, very different from each other. So much so, I believe, that the only thing they have in common is that they all trade distance for force to perform the same amount of work (likely, the definition of a machine).
KnifeMissile is offline  
 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46