What Are Gears and What Do They Do?
Students learn about gears and their many functionsCopyright (gears) 2006 Audrius Meskauskas, Wikimedia Commons; (cyclists) 2004 Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052-6399 USA. All rights reserved. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bevel_gear.jpg http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images/results.aspx?qu=bicycle&ex=1#ai:MP900407440|mt:2|
Students are introduced to an important engineering element—the gear. Different types of gears are used in many engineering devices, including wind-up toys, bicycles, cars and non-digital clocks. Students learn about various types of gears and how they work in machines. They handle and combine LEGO spur gears as an exercise in gear ratios. They see how gears and different gear train arrangements are used to change the speed, torque and direction of a power source. This prepares them to apply this knowledge in four associated activities in order to create successful solutions to design challenges that use LEGO® MINDSTORMS® EV3 robots. A PowerPoint® presentation, pre/post quizzes and a worksheet are provided.
Gears represent an important component of many mechanical devices and are usually identified with mechanical engineers (who are sometimes called "gear heads"). Gears are simple machines made up of a wheel and axle. Although it may not be obvious to students before this lesson, gears are pervasive in our world. They are found in the mechanisms of cars, trucks, bikes, pumps, analog watches, wind turbines, bull dozers and most engineering machines.
After this lesson, students should be able to:
- Explain the role of gears in mechanical devices.