My example of an inclined plane is stairs, and that girl would be me, in case you didn't know :) But anyways, I think you know how stairs make life easier, but I still have to tell you that they break an uphill path into shorter segments, therefore dividing up the work. If not for stairs, then everything would be on one level, which would take up much more space. This would make living space for animals and plants diminish, which creates a lack of food. So in the long run, if not for stairs, the world would end. Pretty deep, right? :)
Before I begin explaining this one, I must say I didn't expect for that pose to look so stupid, so pretend it doesn't :) Okay, well this "power shower" is an example of a lever. You can't really tell in this picture, but that little metal thing on top of the shower is a lever that holds back the water. Then when you pull that handle I'm holding that looks like a triangle, it sets the water free, and when you let go, the water is cut off. Those handy dandy chemical showers make life easier by reducing the time it takes to wash off hazardous chemicals. However, life without power showers really wouldn't be as big as an impact as there was with the stairs because they aren't used as often. However, it would be necessary if somebody were to spill chemicals all over themselves. So without chemical showers, the clumsy people's skin would burn off.
This would be an example of a pulley. For those of you involved with theater, or perfoming or anything like that, I imagine pulleys are a pretty big part of your life. Okay maybe not. However, pulleys raise and lower the curtains on a stage, sometimes. Sometimes electric curtain openers are used too. While these pulleys on a curtain aren't as easy as automatic ones, they're a whole lot easier than manually putting the curtains up and manually taking them down. Without a pulley system attached to curtains, the world wouldn't really be at that huge of a loss...but ya know. They're good to have around for the performers / curtain users.
I have to make a shoutout to Danielle, who is in the background of this here photograph :) This cart is my example of a wheel and axle. Or I'm assuming it's a cart...well anyways, it has a a wheel and axle, so we'll pretend it's a cart. Carts make life easier for anybody that has the privlege of using a cart in their daily life. Instead of carrying your various objects with your hands, you can just put your various objects on one of these things, and the wheel turns on the axle to make the cart move. Life without carts is kinda whatever, so let's think of what would happen without CARS. Wheels and axles play a pretty big role in cars because they allow them to move. Cars pretty much make the world go round today. If cars had never been invented, I imagine we'd still be using bikes to get around, especially since the invention of busses and subways were a spinoff to cars. So without cars, a huge chain of events in human history would have missing pieces, if you think about it...
Did you know a doorknob was a screw? Beacause I did. Screws simplify life in multiple different ways, but in the case of a doorknob, It allows doors to open and close. Duh, right? Well think about it - without doorknobs there would be a serious lack of privacy. I think we can all agree that doors are an essential part to residential and commerical buildings. It's one of those things people tend to take for granted. If not for doors, perhaps the only means of privacy would be a curtain (with a pulley system, of course). You may be thinking, "doors don't have to have doorknobs though, Hannah", and to that I say, "valid point". However, there's still the issue of privacy.
Now it's time for my favorite and final simple machine....THE WEDGE!! (muahahaha!) This here wedge, a pair of scissors, is used to cut paper. Without scissors, we'd have to tear our paper, or fold and lick it and tear it. Eww. It would also lose so, so much valuable time when you could just cut it with some scissors! So much easier!
Well, that's about all I have for you on simple machines! Til next time.. :)
-Hannah
