The six simple machines
Simple machines have helped people lift, move and build for thousands of years, and this word search gathers them. You'll track down the classic six — the LEVER, the PULLEY, the WEDGE, the SCREW, the WHEEL and AXLE, and the INCLINE (or ramp) — the building blocks of every bigger MECHANISM.
Each puzzle pulls a fresh selection from the list, so the workshop changes every time you play — gentle on Easy, and a Hard-mode build once the diagonals and backwards words appear.
How they make work easier
Simple machines all do one thing: turn a small EFFORT into a big result, and the words are here. A LEVER balances on a FULCRUM to lift a heavy LOAD, a RAMP reduces the FORCE you need, and a CRANK or WINCH and a HOIST help you raise things up. There's the GEAR and COG that turn together, the SPRING that stores energy, the PIVOT that lets things rotate, the FRICTION to overcome, and the SEESAW every kid knows.
Trading force for distance
Here's the clever secret of simple machines: they don't give you something for nothing. A machine like a RAMP lets you raise a heavy LOAD with far less FORCE — but you have to push it a longer way to do it. You trade a big effort over a short distance for a smaller EFFORT over a longer one, and the total work stays the same. A LEVER does the trick by pivoting on its FULCRUM, so pushing down on the long end easily lifts a heavy weight on the short end.
People have understood this for thousands of years. The ancient Egyptians are thought to have used ramps and levers to help build the pyramids, and the Greek thinker Archimedes was so impressed by the LEVER that he reportedly said, 'Give me a place to stand and I will move the Earth.' Combine these simple machines — adding a GEAR here, a PULLEY there — and you can build almost any complicated MECHANISM.
Great for a forces-and-machines topic
It pairs perfectly with a science lesson on forces and how machines help us work — Easy mode keeps the grid small with no diagonals or reverse words. Play online, print a PDF pack, or use our Make Your Own tool to build a grid from your own machine words.