[Illustration: FIG. 31. When the handle is turned the blades of the egg
beater move much more rapidly than the hand. Will they pinch hard enough
to hurt?]
The whole idea of the lever can be summed up like this: one end of the
contrivance _moves_ more than the other. But energy cannot be lost; so
to make up for this extra _motion_ at one end more _force_ is always
exerted at the other.
This rule is true for all kinds of levers, blocks and tackles or
pulley systems, automobile and bicycle gears, belt systems, cog
systems, derricks, crowbars, and every kind of machine. In most
machines you either put in more force than you get out and gain
motion, or you put in more motion than you get out and gain force. In
the following examples of the lever see if you can tell whether you
are applying more force and obtaining more motion, or whether you are
putting in more motion and obtaining more force:
Cracking nuts with a nut cracker.
Beating eggs with a Dover egg beater.
Going up a hill in an automobile on low gear.
Speeding on high gear.
Cutting cloth with the points of shears.
Cutting near the angle of the shears.
Turning a door knob.
Picking up sugar with sugar tongs.
Pinching your finger in the crack of a door on the hinge side.
[Illustration: FIG. 32. His hand goes down as far as the pail goes
up.]
_APPLICATION 16._ Suppose you wanted to lift a heavy frying
pan off the stove. You have a cloth to keep it from burning
your hand. Would it be easier to lift it by the end of the
handle or by the part of the handle nearest the pan?
_APPLICATION 17._ A boy was going to wheel his little sister
in a wheelbarrow. She wanted to sit in the middle of the
wheelbarrow; her brother thought she should sit as near the
handles as possible so that she would be nearer his hands.
Another boy thought she should sit as near the wheel as
possible. Who was right?
_APPLICATION 18._ James McDougal lived in a hilly place. He
was going to buy a bicycle. "I want one that will take the
hills easily," he said. The dealer showed him two bicycles.
On one the back wheel went around three times while the pedals
went around once; on the other the back wheel went around
four and a half times while the pedals went around once. Which
bicycle should James have chosen? If he had wanted the bicycle
for racing, which should he have chosen?
_APPLICATION 19._ A wagon stuck in the mud. The driver got out
and tried to help the horse by grasping the spokes and turning
the wheel. Should he have grasped the spokes near the hub,
near the rim, or in the middle?
[Illustration: FIG. 33. With this arrangement the pail travels more
slowly than the hand. Will it seem heavier or lighter than with the
arrangement shown in Figure 32?]
INFERENCE EXERCISE
Explain the following:
71. When you turn on the faucet of a distilled-water bottle,
bubbles go up through the water as the water pours out.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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