What is the difference between pulleys and gears

Pulleys use mechanical advantage , similar to levers, to lift up loads. Pulleys are wheel shaped with a groove that allows a cord to sit inside the groove. They can be used by hand or attached to a motorised winch to increase the amount of weight that can be lifted. Pulleys are a simple and manoeuvrable way to move large objects. They are easy to transport to where they are needed and set up, but they do require somewhere stable to hang.

A single pulley changes the direction of force, making pulling down easier than lifting up. Single pulley systems are demonstrated in cranes, lifting a bucket from a well, raising a flag or adjusting window blinds. Even though there is no actual mechanical advantage with one pulley, it is referred to as having a mechanical advantage of one. Brittany McBride has been writing professionally since Examples of Gears and Pulleys. Related Articles Uses of Spur Gears.

How to Identify Three Types of Levers. A Lesson to Introduce Simple Machines. Mechanism Description of a Manual Can Opener. Examples of Pulleys in Everyday Life. Instead, gears are machine elements used to transmit rotary motion between two shafts, normally with a constant ratio. The pinion is the smallest gear and the larger gear is called the gear wheel.

Please login or register to see this content. Client area. Login New Account. The two systems have pros and cons. An example of a complex pulley system is a block and tackle. Complex pulley systems can lift heavy loads by reducing the magnitude of the force. However, a long length of rope is required to achieve this. Can you build a pulley system to get tomatoes up and down a mountain without squashing them?

Visit the Practical Action website to see the full challenge. Gears are wheels with teeth that slot together. When one turns, the other turns too. They work in three ways:. Print out: Gears to print. A4 card to make gears, scissors, glue, split pins, thick card to attach gears to e. Make a hole in the centre of each gear by putting it on top of your sticky tack and forcing the pencil through it.

Position the gears on top of the thick cardboard so that the teeth of one gear are interlocking with the next gear. Mark the position of the centre of each gear using the pencil. Make a hole using the pencil and sticky tack. Cut out house item cards 1. You could sort them into items you use in the kitchen, and items that are used elsewhere in the house. Or items that are made of metal, or items that are made of plastic.

You can also sort them into items that use levers, pulleys, or gears. Both types of machines can be described as creating over-complicated machines to solve simple tasks. Building one of these machines as the final activity of a unit on simple machines would be a good challenge for your pupils.

This site from Connections Academy has some useful ideas about what your machines might include or you can watch the video below for inspiration. All pop up books or cards, whether simple or complex, are made using the same simple mechanisms. If you click here, you will find the instructions for these mechanisms and some more complicated ones. If you watch the video below you will see how the paper engineer Matthew Reinhart takes these same mechanisms and develops them into speculator pop ups.

You may want to start by using the basic folds and techniques in your designs. Click here to find the instructions for these mechanisms and some more complicated ones. You may want to try a ready made pop up. Click here to visit a website with templates, instructions and tutorials designed by a variety of paper engineers. If you have time, you could watch the tutorial video below to see how to develop your designs into something more complex.

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