Levers

In a lever there are 3 parts and 3 classes. They are the Fulcrum, Load, Effort, 1st class, 2nd class and 3rd class. For each class there are different examples and different places where each part must go. The fulcrum is the pivot point, the effort is the part of a lever where there is force, and the load is the resistance. Examples for 1st class is a see-saw (the fulcrum is in the middle), 2nd class is a wheelbarrow (the load is in the middle) and 3rd class is our arm (hand = load, muscles = effort, elbow = fulcrum). An example of levers in a sport is Badminton. When hitting a shuttlecock with our racket, the fulcrum is your elbow - this is because your elbow is moving. The effort is our muscles swinging the racket and the load is the racket itself. This is 3rd class, because we are using our arm. The activity we did today was draw out the different parts of a lever, put the load in certain spots on the effort, and figure out where the fulcrum goes. We had to then explain what class each meant and give examples. Here is my activity.