Slides and Steps
Is a sloping board without a fulcrum a machine? It is if you use it to do some work. It is a kind of simple machine called an inclined plane. Inclined means sloping, and a plane is a flat surface. So an inclined plane is a flat surface that slopes, like a slide in a playground or a ramp.
An inclined plane makes it easy to move things up and down. When you use an inclined plane, you spread out the amount of work you do. If you lift a heavy box onto a table, you move it only a short distance – straight up. But you are doing all the lifting at once. If you slide the box up an inclined plane, you do the lifting little, by little, so the job is easier.
There are other ways to use inclined planes, too. When you wheel your bike or roll a wheelchair up and down a ramp, you are using an inclined plane.
The kind of inclined plane you use most often may not look like one. A stairway is an inclined plane with steps on it. The steps help keep the plane shorter. Imagine how long the inclined plane would have to be if you flattened out the stairs!
Picture Credit : Google