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Science project ideas on how inclined planes are used in doing work.
Inclined Planes Doing Work Science Project Idea
How inclined planes are used in doing work. Which seems to demand more effort; walking to the top of a hill up a gradual slope, or up a very steep one? In parks which have hills, how are the paths laid out? In going up mountains, railroads take a very winding or zigzag course instead of going directly up. Wagon and automobile roads are built in the same way where a considerable elevation is to be reached. An automobile which fails to go to the top of a hill at high gear, if the road is one fourth of a mile, will go up easily at this gear if the road is several times longer. In pushing a heavily loaded wheelbarrow into a door which is a foot above the ground, is it better to use a board 2 feet long or one 3 feet long, reaching from the doorsill to the ground? What conclusion do you draw from these points to which your attention has been drawn, and from other similar cases which you have observed? Evidently in these cases as in the use of the lever, the windlass, and the pulley, in doing a specified amount of work, the greater the distance through which the force or effort works, the less is the required effort.  The following experiment will show the relation of effort to length of the plane in raising a weight by the use of the inclined plane.
Inclined Plane Science Experiment I Take a smooth board 4 feet long; raise one end of the board 1 foot from the ground. Into a toy wagon put weights until the wagon and its contents weigh 8 pounds; attach a spring balance to the front of the wagon and by means of it pull the wagon up the incline, taking care to keep the spring balance parallel with the board. What does the spring balance register? (The spring balance will register somewhat too high because of the friction between the wheels and the board.) Change the raised end of the board to 2 feet above the ground, and then to 4 feet, making note of the force necessary to pull the weight up the different inclines. Draw your conclusion as to the advantage of the use of the inclined plane. Wedges, chisels, knives, and common pins are all really inclined planes. One of the most interesting of modified inclined planes is the screw, which has many uses with which you are familiar. All screws are inclined planes, as may be shown by the following experiment. Inclined Plane Science Experiment II  Cut a piece of paper into a right-angle triangle, with the shorter side of the triangle 2 inches and the longer one 8 inches. Wind the paper around a pencil, beginning with the short side parallel with the pencil. What is the appearance of the paper after it is wound around the pencil? 
You will now understand how a jackscrew is of assistance in raising a building or a heavy weight, or how greater pressure may be brought to bear by the use of a screw clamp, by the nut on a bolt, or by presses of various kinds in which screws are used. The efficiency of the screw as a machine is usually increased by the use of a lever. 
Examine various complex machines and determine in what way these simple machines are combined, and the special advantages of the use of each.
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