Simple Machines and Ug and Grock

Simple machines are defined as machines  with few or no 

moving parts. Simple machines make work easier.  In class

we are helping our new friends, Ug and Grock, solve 

problems.  

Meet Ug and Grock:

Ug and Grock needed help getting apples out of the apple tree.  We brainstormed ideas to help them.  The only materials around were a log and a rock.  Students wanted to shimmy up the tree, hit the tree with the log (way too heavy!), and throw the rock at the apples (bruised and battered). Finally, they decided they could use the log and the rock to build a teeter totter, or our first simple machine a LEVER.  

We did experiments with a lever. We labeled the fulcrum, the bar and the load.  We realized that we would need to change the position of the fulcrum if the load increased.  Would we mover it closer or farther away from the load?  What was the force needed to lift the load?  

Now.... Ug and Grock have a piece of meat that they want to move to their cave.  The students decided that their next simple machine is a wheel and axle.  They are doing experiments designing a "car" that will move Ug and Grock's meat.