Simple machines

A lever is a simple machine consisting of a beam or rigid rod pivoted at a fixed hinge, or fulcrum. A lever is a rigid body capable of rotating on a point on itself. On the basis of the locations of fulcrum, load, and effort, the lever is divided into three types. It is one of the six simple machines identified by Renaissance scientists. A lever amplifies an input force to provide a greater output force, which is said to provide leverage, which is mechanical advantage gained in the system, equal to the ratio of the output force to the input force. As such, the lever is a mechanical advantage d

A pulley is a wheel on an axle or shaft enabling a taut cable or belt passing over the wheel to move and change direction, or transfer power between itself and a shaft.

thumb|A wood splitting wedge

tilted flat surface; flat supporting surface tilted at an angle, with one end higher than the other, used as an aid for raising or lowering a load

mechanical device that changes the direction or magnitude of a force

thumb|250px|Seesaw in 1792 painting by Francisco de Goya thumb|250px|A set of conjoined playground seesaws

simple machine which consists of a wheel attached to a smaller axle

device consisting of two pulleys (or in a borderline case only one movable pulley); device multiplying force; machine used to lift heavy loads

thumb|Plumbing plunger in a sink

mechanism that converts rotational motion to linear motion, and a torque (rotational force) to a linear force; one of the six classical simple machines

device consisting of a movable pulley, two wheels with different diameters fixed together serving as the fixed pulley and a chain loop; device multiplying force; machine used to lift heavy loads

mechanism to distribute force evenly through linkages

type of simple machine

movement of one part sliding out from another, lengthening an object, or quality of a mechanism that performs such a movement