Blog 6 (: - The Grandaddy of All Chuckers xD

Our contraption's name was 'The Gradaddy of All Chuckers' (: and it is a catapult.

Q: Does changing the position of the weighted block make a difference in how far the catapult fires?
A: Yes, if the weighted block is closer to the bucket, it doesn't go far.

Q: What simple machines are used on the catapult?

A: It is a lever with the lever with the fulcrum being the black rod, the load the bucket, and the

effort being the weighted block.

Q: Do the support rods on the vertical risings matter?
A:Yes, without the vertical rods it would go forward.

Q: What does it do?

A: It launches small items.

Blog 5- simple machines at home (:

In STEM, we were given an assignment to go home and take pictures of ourselves with the six simple machines: pulley, lever, wheel and axle, inclined plane, wedge, and the screw. I did my pictures with the tuning keys on my guitar, the wheel on my mom's van, a knife, a pair of scissors, and a cord from my light in my bedroom to the other side of the room.

This is a picture of the power cord in my room. It represents a pulley. Pulleys are used to make lifting things easier. You can find pulleys in a lot of machinery.

This is a picture of the wheel on my mom's van. It represents a wheel and axle. Wheels and axles make things move easier than without them. You can find wheels and axles in cars, door knobs, machinery.

This picture is of the steps outside my house. They signify an inclined plane. Inclined planes make steep things into smaller increments that are easier to walk up or push something up. You can find inclined planes anywhere, from stairs to hills to ramps.

This picture is of scissors. It represents a lever. Levers are used to make lifting heavy things easier. Levers are used in scissors and nail clippers.

This picture is of my guitar's tuning keys. The tuning keys are screws. Screws make holding things together easy.

This simple machine is a wedge. Wedges are things such as knives, axes, and doorstops. Wedges are used to force or push things apart.

These simple machines were all found in, or around my house. There were many more examples of simple machines that I could have chose, but I thought these were easier to do because they were right there and obvious. I bet if you thought about it, you could pick out hundreds of simple machines that you see in one day.

The inclined plane, screw, and wedge. (:

First, the inclined plane. The inclined plane makes work easier by making steep things, turn into more relaxed increments. Even though stairs may not look like they would be an inclined plane, they are. Hills are also examples of inclined planes.


The screw is actually two simple machines in one. A screw is an inclined plane wrapped around a wedge. Screws hold things together.


The last simple machine is the wedge. Wedges are used to force of push things apart. Wedges cut into what they are forced into.

Levers, wheel & axle, pulley

A lever is used for lifting or prying things. There are three classes for levers. Levers are classified by where the fulcrum, effort, and load are arranged.

There are two different types of pulleys. There are one pully systems and two pulley systems. Pulleys are used to lift things to a tall height. The more pulleys there are, the easier a heavy object can be lifted. Although it is easier to lift, the rope pulled has to go a longer distance. The load is what is being lifted, the fulcrum is the place where the cable goes around, and the effort is the force being put on the cable to lift the load.

The wheel and axle is used in a door knob because, the knob (wheel) turns the axle along with it to open a door, but if you tried to turn it by the axle, it would be very hard to turn it. Wheel and axles are used to make something move, thus making work easier.

The Simple Machines Fashion Show xD

The Simple Machine Project Runway was fun. I made a necklace and earrings out of junk! That's something i never thought I would be able to say. My earrings are made from an 8-track player. I put zebra print duct tape to make it prettyful though (:. I also put a lot of different colored glitter on the duct tape after that. I think they turned out well. The necklace I made contains wedges, screws, springs, and gears, as the simple machines. I also put colorful beads to space out the simple machines that I put on it. Gears can be found in things such as, bikes and clocks. Wedges can be for doorstops. Screws hold together wooden objects. And springs can be found in things like mattresses, wind-up toys, and jack-in-the-boxes. I didn't really have inspiration to make the jewelry...

A Bit About Me (:

Hey all, my name's Alexis. I love music and poetry. My favorite animal is the chinchilla. They are so cute! (I got the picture from chinnitude.com) My favorite genre of music at this moment is rock and screamo. I have many favorite colors. My all-time favorite is lime green! My other favorites are silver, black, purple, orange, and every other color of green there is. I'm obsessed with zebra print! I love to read books. I also love to sing and dance (even though I'm not very good at dancing haha). I play the guitar and the flute. I'm pretty cool once you get to know me. Bye! (: