Grandpa Fenn's Workshop
The Wheel and the Axle
A well bucket is heavy. Grandpa turns a handle and it floats up like a feather. Poppy wants to know how a handle does that.
Grandpa Fenn's Workshop
A well bucket is heavy. Grandpa turns a handle and it floats up like a feather. Poppy wants to know how a handle does that.
The bucket weighs 60. The axle stays the same size. Pick a wheel. Then slide to turn the handle and watch the bucket rise.
Grandpa smiles at the well. A big wheel and a small axle. One hand does the job.
A wheel and axle is two wheels on one shaft. The big wheel is the handle. The small wheel is the axle that winds the rope.
When you turn the big wheel once, the axle turns once too. But the handle travels a long circle. The rope only winds a short one.
Look at the numbers. The bigger the wheel, the lighter the pull. But the handle goes around a lot farther than the bucket goes up.
Toby turns the handleA wheel and axle is a lever that spins.
A bigger wheel means a lighter pull.
A bigger wheel also means the handle goes a longer way. The trade is always fair.
Big word for the day. Axle. The rod a wheel turns on.
More machines are waiting on the bench.
Back to the Chain Reaction Bench