A simple machine is a mechanical device that changes the direction or magnitude of aforce.

In general, they can be defined as the simplest mechanisms that use mechanical advantage (also called leverage) to multiply force.[3] A simple machine uses a single applied force to do work against a single load force. Ignoring friction losses, the work done on the load is equal to the work done by the applied force. They can be used to increase the amount of the output force, at the cost of a proportional decrease in the distance moved by the load. The ratio of the output to the input force is called the mechanical advantage. Usually the term refers to the six classical simple machines which were defined by Renaissance scientists:


Lever
In physics, a lever (from French lever, "to raise", c.f. a levant) is a rigid object that is used with an appropriate fulcrum or pivot point to multiply the mechanical force (effort) that can be applied to another object (load). This leverage is also termed mechanical advantage, and is one example of the principle of moments. A lever is one of the six simple machines.


Wheel and axle

The wheel and axle is a simple machine. A wheel and axle is a modified lever of the first class[1] that rotates in a circle around a center point or fulcrum. The larger wheel (or outside) rotates around the smaller wheel (axle). Bicycle wheels, ferris wheels, and gears are all examples of a wheel and axle. Wheels can also have a solid shaft with the center core as the axle such as a screwdriver or drill bit or the log in a log rolling contest.

Pulley

A pulley, also called a sheave or a drum, is a mechanism composed of a wheel on an axle orshaft that may have a groove between two flanges around its circumference.[1] A rope, cable,belt, or chain usually runs over the wheel and inside the groove, if present. Pulleys are used to change the direction of an applied force, transmit rotational motion, or realize a mechanical advantage in either a linear or rotational system of motion. It is one of the six simple machines. Two or more pulleys together are called a block and tackle.


Inclined plane
The inclined plane is one of the original six simple machines; as the name suggests, it is a flat surface whose endpoints are at different heights. By moving an object up an inclined plane rather than completely vertical, the amount of force required is reduced, at the expense of increasing the distance the object must travel. The mechanical advantage of an inclined plane is the ratio of the length of the sloped surface to the height it spans; this may also be expressed as thecosecant of the angle between the plane and the horizontal. Note that due to the conservation of energy, the same amount of mechanical energy is required to lift a given object by a given distance, except for losses from friction, but the inclined plane allows the same work to be done with a smaller force exerted over a greater distance.

Wedge
A wedge is a triangular shaped tool, a compound and portable inclined plane, and one of the six classical simple machines. It can be used to separate two objects or portions of an object, lift an object, or hold an object in place. It functions by converting a force applied to its blunt end into forces perpendicular (normal) to its inclined surfaces.[1] The mechanical advantage of a wedge is given by the ratio of the length of its

slope to its width.[2][3] Although a short wedge with a wide angle may do a job faster, it requires more force than a long wedge with a narrow angle.


Screw

A screw is one of the six classical simple machines, essentially an inclined plane wrapped helically around an axis for a number of turns (which may be less than one). A screw can convert a rotational movement to a linear movement, and a torque (rotational force) to a linear force. When the shaft of the screw is rotated relative to the stationary threads, the screw moves along its axis relative to the medium surrounding it; for example rotating a woodscrew forces it into wood; rotating a fixed Archimedean screw used to pump water moves the water. The screw's lead, the distance the screw travels in one revolution , determines the mechanical advantage of the machine; the smaller the lead, the higher the mechanical advantage Mechanical advantage can be estimated by dividing the circumference of the shaft by the distance between the threads. Practical screw devices may or may not have a shaft around which the thread is wrapped; the propeller blade, for example, does not. Uses include:
 

the bolt, used as a fastener together with a nut or tapped hole with mating thread the metal woodscrew, a fastener with a thread sharp enough to cut its way through wood, forming a thread in the wood, driving the screw in, and holding it in place the screw top, to hold the lid of a bottle or jar tightly in place the lathe screw, which uses rotation of a knob by hand to make much smaller, precisely controlled linear movements the similar worm gear, to drive a perpendicular gear with increased mechanical advantage the lead screw, ball screw and roller screw, which convert screw rotation to linear movement of a shaft the corkscrew the micrometer, essentially a calibrated, precise screw used for measuring linear distances the propeller blade to move a water- or aircraft, an example of a screw of less than one turn which is not required to move a shaft the electric fan blade, a fixed propeller which moves the air the helical twist drill bit, an Archimedean screw used to remove swarf from a hole being drilled the screw conveyor, closely related to the Archimedean screw