Put
Inclined Planes
to the Test
Sally M. Walker and Roseann Feldmann
For my son, Tim.
Love you forever RF
Copyright 2012 by Sally M. Walker and Roseann Feldmann
All rights reserved. International copyright secured. No part of this book may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwisewithout the prior written
permission of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc., except for the inclusion of brief quotations in
an acknowledged review.
Lerner Publications Company
A division of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc.
241 First Avenue North
Minneapolis, MN 55401 U.S.A.
Website address: www.lernerbooks.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Walker, Sally M.
Put inclined planes to the test / by Sally M. Walker and Roseann Feldmann.
p. cm. (Searchlight booksHow do simple machines work?)
Includes index.
ISBN 9780761353249 (lib. bdg. : alk. paper)
1. Inclined planesJuvenile literature. I. Feldmann, Roseann. II. Title.
TJ147.W345 2012
621.8dc22 2009032228
Manufactured in the United States of America
1 DP 7/15/11
Contents
Chapter
WORK
You work every day. You work
when you walk up the stairs.
Walking up the stairs is work. What are other examples of work?
You work when
you climb a ladder.
It may surprise
you to learn that
playing is work too.
Playing baseball is work!
Work = Using Force to Move an Object
When scientists use the word work, they dont mean the
opposite of play. Work is using force to move an object
from one place to another. Force is a push or a pull. You
use force to do chores and to play.
You use force when you lift a box.
This girl is moving a
container from one place to another, so she is doing work.
Sometimes you push or pull an object to move it to a
new place. Then you have done work. The distance that
the object moves may be long or short. But the object
must move.
Pulling a Sled Is Work
Pulling a sled uphill is work. Your force moves the sled to
the top of the hill.
You use force when you pull your sled
up a hill. You are doing work.
But Pushing a
Building Isnt Work
Pushing a building
is not work. Its not
work if you sweat.
Its not work even if
you push until your
arms feel like rubber.
No matter how
hard you try, you
have not done work.
The building has
not moved. If the
building moves, then
you have worked!
These kids are using force
to push against this building. But the building is not moving. Are the kids doing work?
Chapter
MACHINES
Most people want to make
doing work easier. Machines are
tools that make work easier. Some
of them make work go faster too.
A bulldozer
is a machine with many moving parts. What do we call machines with many moving parts?
Complicated Machines
Some machines have many moving parts. We call them
complicated machines. It may be hard to understand
how complicated machines work. Escalators and
bulldozers are complicated machines.
An escalator is a complicated machine.
Simple Machines
Some machines
are easy to
understand. They
are called simple
machines. Simple
machines have
few moving parts.
A staircase is a simple machine.
Simple machines are found in every home, school, and
playground. They are so simple that most people dont
realize they are machines.
A doorknob has few
moving parts. It is
a simple machine.
Chapter
WHAT IS AN
INCLINED PLANE?
An inclined
plane is a
simple machine.
An inclined plane
is a flat surface.
One end is higher
than the other.
Using an inclined
plane makes it easier
to lift or lower heavy
objects.
This girl is using an inclined plane. What kind of machine is an inclined plane?
Experiment Time
You can prove this for yourself. Youll need five or six
thick books, a heavy weight, and the board from a family
game. The heavy weight might be a 5- pound (2- kilogram)
bag of flour. Or you could use a very large can of food.
YOU CAN SHOW THAT AN INCLINED
PLANE MAKES WORK EASIER. THESE ARE
THE THINGS YOU WILL NEED.
It takes a lot of force to lift a heavy object by yourself.
Stack the books
on a table. Put the
weight next to the
books. Try to lift
the weight up onto
the books with one
hand. Use two
hands if you have
to. Lift it several
times. Lifting the
weight straight up
takes a lot of force.
Next, lean the game board against the books. The
game board should be folded in half. The top end of the