From catapults to caterpillar tractors, machines throughout the ages have served man and lightened the workload. Fourth-graders at Hudsonville's Park Elementary School learned just how simple machines ...

When you push or pull with a simple machine, you are applying a force and doing work. And, if you get more force out of a machine than you put into it, then that machine has a mechanical advantage.

Simple machines make work easier, not less work, says Rick Crosslin, scientist. He joined us today to demonstrate how simple machines work. In our case, Randy was the “load” and Amber was the “effort.

After learning about the lever, wheel and axle, pulley, inclined plane, wedge and screw, the students designed a future Hilltop playground, one that included examples of each simple machine studied.

When I was a kid, I sat glued to the television watching behind the scenes shows on the workings of industrial plants. I couldn’t get enough of watching a series of machines work in tandem to convert ...

Have you ever seen a flag being raised, or wondered how a mechanical clock works? Let’s take a look at some of the simple mechanisms that they use. Pulleys and gears. When a flag is raised, it will ...