Poetry on Simple Machines

 

The ancient Egyptians were very clever.

They figured out how to use the lever.

They built pyramids with stones that weighed a lot.

Inclined planes helped to move them to the right spot.

Why not use wheels?

I’m not certain.

History sometimes holds mysteries behind a time curtain.

Did the Egyptian invention work out?

See a pyramid and you have no doubt.

 

Fifty Ways to Love Your Lever  ~ A song

It's not a vision in your head, she said to me.
But a machine when you've work to do simply.
I'd like to help you understand mechanically,
There must be fifty ways to love your lever.

She said, it's got a fulcrum or a pivot point, you know,
Relative to the points of effort and of load.
And what is lost in force is gained in motion, so
There must be fifty ways to love your lever.

 

Chorus:
Just slip out the jack, Mack.
Use a pry bar, Carl.
Those pliers employ, Roy.
Just listen to me.
Work that pump, Gump.
Fill a wheel barrow, Cheryl.
Magnify the force, Doris,
And let your lever be.

 

She said, there's three kinds of levers you can use,
When you've heavy weights to lift or motion to infuse.
And I realized that though she was missing a few screws,
There must be fifty ways to love your lever.

 

In some, the fulcrum's in between the effort and the load.
Or at one end as in the nutcracker you hold.
In others, the effort's in the middle mode.
There must be fifty ways to love your lever.

 

Chorus

 

 

If anyone comes across poetry for simple machines please send to :

[email protected]

Resources

Teach-nology

Teacher Leadership NetworkDePaul Center for Urban Education ©2002
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------