Investigation

Investigation

In science, we have been learning about different forces and what the act upon. We have done an experiment to find out how levers work and if there are any advantages.

Aim:
To investigate the advantage of using a lever to lift a load.

Equipment:

• 30cm ruler
• pencil
• 2 plastic cups
• 20 marbles
• Blue tak/tape

Method:

1. Tape the two cups to both ends of the ruler at 2cm and 28cm.
2. Place the pencil under the ruler at 15cm. The pencil will be the pivot point.
3. Add 10 marbles to the cup at cup 1 (marked at 2cm).
4. Add marbles one by one to cup 2 until the cups are balanced.
5. Record how many marbles were added.
6. Move the pencil to the 13cm mark and repeat steps 4 and 5.
7. Move the pencil to the 10cm mark and repeat steps 4 and 5 again.

Hypothesis:

I think that the more the pencil goes back the fewer marbles will need to be added to the 2nd cup.

Results:

Experiment: 1, side length: 1:1, marbles in cup 1: 10, marbles in cup 2: 10

Experiment: 2, side length: 1:2, marbles in cup 1: 10, marbles in cup 2: 7

Experiment: 3, side length: 1:3, marbles in cup 1: 10, marbles in cup 2: 4