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LessonPhysical EducationBeginner

The Smallest Push — How does a lever let one child lift a huge weight?

A lever lets a small push lift a huge weight by moving the pivot point close to the load: the closer the pivot sits to the heavy thing, the longer your side of the plank and the more force your small push makes. A ship is grounded on the beach at Syracuse and the whole straining crew cannot move it — but you, the smallest one there, are handed a plank and a wedge by an old man named Archimedes, and by sliding the pivot right up beside the boulder your one small weight lifts what a crowd of grown men could not. Learn mechanical advantage by lifting the boulder yourself, then find the same lever hiding in a wheelbarrow, and meet the man who said: give me a place to stand and a lever long enough, and I will move the Earth.

11 min4 questionsGrades 4, 5, 6

VCreated byViafocus

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