Exercises for Levers & Simple Machines

Let’s see how much you’ve picked up with these experiments and the reading – answer as best as you can. (No peeking at the answers until you’re done!) Just relax and see what jumps to mind when you read the question. You can also print these out and jot down your answers in your science notebook.
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Energy Exercises

1. Everything in the universe can be categorized as what two things?

2. What is energy?

3. What is work?

4. If someone carries a lawn chair to their roof to watch the meteor showers, is work done on the chair?

5. What if the chair falls off the roof? Is work done on the chair then?

6. If someone pushes a train with all their might, but the train doesn’t move, is work done?

7. What are two units used to measure work?

8. What is power?

9. What are two units to measure power?

10. Where does all the energy you get from food originate from?

Simple Machines/Levers Exercises

1. Can you name the six simple machines?

2. It is easier to move things using a lever but what has to happen to lessen the force needed to move the load?

3. Describe a first-class lever. Can you give an example?

4. Describe a second-class lever. Can you give an example?

5. Describe a third-class lever. Can you give an example?

For Advanced Students, we have more advanced energy questions in addition:

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Energy Calculations

Work = Force x Distance
Power = Work / Time

1. A mouse that weighs 4 ounces, jumps, step by step, up a 2 meter tall flight of stairs. What kind of work did that little guy do? (1 newton is 4 ounces)

2. If it took him 3 minutes (180 seconds) to do it, what power did he exert?

3. Bob’s car breaks down. He needs to push on the car with a force of 1000 Newtons to get the car to go 30 meters (about 100 feet). How much work does he do?

4. If Bob takes 5 seconds to do it, how much power does he use?

5. Just for fun, let’s convert that to horsepower. 1 Watt = .001 horsepower

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