Hector tried unsuccessfully to open a bottle of root beer with his bare hands.  In science, he learned that simple machines are devices that make physical work easier to do.  He knew that he could use a tool, such as a bottle opener to help him.  A bottle opener is an an example of a ______ _______.

    The bottle opener by itself would be of no use, unless Hector used some effort to push up on the handle.  The force needed to operate a simple machine is called effort.  He also remembered from his science class that work is the scientific term for when a force makes an object move.  A _____ is any push or pull on an object.  Forces can make things move faster or slower, stop, and change direction.  What was the object that Hector was trying to move?  The scientific term for the bottle cap is called the ____.  Load is the force that a simple machine overcomes.

    Finally, Hector was successful at removing the bottle cap.  After a long drink of  ice cold root beer, Hector jumped on his bicycle and hurried off to the playground.  As he peddled, he thought about how simple machines are often used together to make more complex machines, like his bicycle.  When two or more tools work together, they are called _______ ________.

    Once Hector got to the park, he looked around and to see if he could find other examples of simple machines.  He remembered that levers, screws, wheel and axles, pulleys and inclined planes are all the different types of simple machines.  He saw his cousins Victoria and Ana playing on a seesaw.  He waved to his cousins and thought about how a seesaw is an example of a lever.  A _____ is a rod that tilts about a pivot to produce a useful movement.

    Hector climbed up the spiral staircase to the slide.  He thought about how the staircase worked like a screw because it was easier than climbing straight up.  As he slid down the slide, he thought about how the stairs and slide were both examples inclined planes.  An ________ _____ is just a slope, like a ramp or staircase.

    Across the street from the park, Hector saw some men using a pulley to lift up a huge piano.  _______ help lift heavy loads.  On the other side of the street a woman was roller blading.  He thought about how the wheels on her roller boot turn around axles to move the boot in a straight line. A _____ ___ ____ is a simple machine made up of two connected wheels of different sizes that turn about the same point.

    As soon as Hector got home, he wrote down all the example of simples machines that he discovered at the playground.  Can you identify all the different types of simple machines?  As soon as Hector got home, he wrote down all the example of simples machines that he discovered at the playground.  Can you identify all the different types of simple machines?


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