
Overview
Learning about science can be hard work, but simple machines can make it easier. Let Bill Nye push and pull you around ramps, levers, screws, and pulleys. Simple machines simply make work easier by directing forces over distances. Instead of lifting a heavy box upstairs, you can hook it to some ropes and pulleys and pull it up. Or you can get a ramp and slide it upstairs. Either way, it's less sweat to use the pulleys or the ramp than it is to lift the box straight up by yourself because the force you need is more spread out. Levers, ramps, screws, wheels, wedges, and pulleys are all simple machines designed to direct forces. With simple machines we don't have to push or pull as hard, but we have to push or pull over a longer distance. It's easier to walk up a long set of stairs to the top of the Empire State Building than it would be to climb a ladder to the top, but the set of stairs would be much longer than the ladder. Simple machines are simply scientific.
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1 - 1Flight September 10, 1993
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1 - 2Earth's Crust September 17, 1993
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1 - 3Dinosaurs September 24, 1993
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1 - 4Skin October 01, 1993
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1 - 5Buoyancy October 08, 1993
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1 - 6Gravity October 15, 1993
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1 - 7Digestion October 22, 1993
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1 - 8Phases of Matter October 29, 1993
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1 - 9Biodiversity November 05, 1993
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1 - 10Simple Machines November 12, 1993
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1 - 11The Moon November 19, 1993
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1 - 12Sound November 26, 1993
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1 - 13Garbage December 03, 1993
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1 - 14Structures December 10, 1993
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1 - 15Earth's Seasons December 17, 1993
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1 - 16Light & Color December 24, 1993
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1 - 17Cells January 21, 1994
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1 - 18Electricity January 28, 1994
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1 - 19Outer Space February 04, 1994
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1 - 20Eyeball February 11, 1994