What Are Some Examples of Compound Machines?
Some examples of compound machines include scissors, wheelbarrows, lawn mowers and bicycles. Compound machines are just simple machines that work together.
Scissors are compound machines because they contain both a wedge and a lever. Bikes contain pulleys, screws, levers, wheels, axles and inclined planes.
A simple machine is a device or mechanism that changes force. Levers are simple machines that output force from a pivoting point. There are three kinds of levers used in simple and compound machines. They are hammer-type, wheelbarrow type and arm.
Pulleys are another simple machine used to make compound machines. Pulleys work by changing force due to the rotation of a pulley wheel. The wheel and axle is also a simple machine that is simply a pulley attached to a shaft. A car steering wheel and a Ferris wheel are good examples of wheel and axles.
Inclined planes redirect and redistribute horizontal force into vertical force and a wedge is two inclined planes which are back to back. Screws are used in compound machines and are merely inclined planes wrapped around a small cylinder. All of these simple machines can go into making compound machines. Some compound machines only use two while others use a variety of simple machines.
