Force and motion
Force and Motion
Productive questions
The mechanism on the left is item 4 on the worksheet And How Far will it Move? from Lesson 2. Although students have not dealt with two outputs so far, they can solve the problem if they apply the rule they learned in Lesson 2: for a given input, a short input arm produces a greater output than a longer input arm. Both x and y have the same input. The input arm of x is shorter than the input arm of y. Therefore x will move more than y.Analysis of this mechanism is a bridge to making mechanisms with one input and more than one outputs.
We suggest that teachers make a large drawing such as the one above on the right. The question for the class is: What are some of the ways you might add a second output link to this mechanism?