Good Learning Co.
SavannahYear 8
← Design & Technology
Design & TechnologyMaterials and mechanisms20 min★★ difficulty

Mechanisms: levers, linkages and gears

Simple mechanisms turn one kind of movement or force into another — and they are hiding inside everyday objects from scissors to bicycles.

Part of your national curriculum
  • Technical knowledge: Understand how mechanical systems such as levers, linkages and gears create movement and change forces

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Understand how mechanical systems such as levers, linkages and gears create movement and change forces

Key learning points

  • • Levers
  • • Linkages
  • • Gears

This lesson at a glance

  • 20 minutes
  • 14 parts to scroll through
  • 3 quick checks
  • Marked quiz at the end
  • Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

mechanicalsystemsleverslinkagescreate

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 14 · Discover7%
1

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 14

Watch first

Mechanisms: levers, linkages and gears

An English teaching video on this topic from Mrs Williams. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.

In a nutshell

Understand how mechanical systems such as levers, linkages and gears create movement and change forces

2

Learning cycle

Part 2 of 14

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Part 1 · Levers

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

3

Explore the idea

Part 3 of 14

Learn

Levers

A lever is a rigid bar that pivots around a fixed point called a fulcrum, allowing a small force applied over a large distance to create a larger force over a shorter distance (or vice versa). Scissors, seesaws and bottle openers are all levers, classified by where the fulcrum, effort and load sit relative to each other.

4

Explore the idea

Part 4 of 14

Learn

Linkages

A linkage is a set of rigid bars connected by pivots that changes the direction or type of movement, for example turning a small up-and-down motion into a larger side-to-side motion. Linkages are used in toys, windscreen wipers and folding mechanisms like umbrella frames.

5

Quick check

Part 5 of 14

Quick check

What is a fulcrum?

6

Reset break

Part 6 of 14

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
7

Quick check

Part 7 of 14

Quick check

What does a linkage mainly do?

8

Learning cycle

Part 8 of 14

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Part 2 · Gears

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

9

Explore the idea

Part 9 of 14

Learn

Gears

Gears are wheels with teeth that mesh together to transmit rotational movement, and changing the size of the gears changes speed and force: a small gear driving a larger one increases force but reduces speed, which is exactly how a bicycle's low gears make hills easier to climb.

10

Quick check

Part 10 of 14

Quick check

What happens when a small gear drives a larger gear?

11

Challenge round

Part 11 of 14

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

12

Challenge round

Part 12 of 14

Game · Fill the gaps

Finish the sentences

Choose the word that belongs in each gap.

A lever is a rigid bar that pivots around a fixed point called a fulcrum, allowing a small force applied over a large distance to ____ a larger force over a shorter distance (or vice versa).

Scissors, seesaws and bottle openers are all ____, classified by where the fulcrum, effort and load sit relative to each other.

____ are used in toys, windscreen wipers and folding mechanisms like umbrella frames.

13

Mastery quiz

Part 13 of 14

Marked quiz

End of lesson quiz: Mechanisms: levers, linkages and gears

3 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.

  1. 1. What is a fulcrum?

  2. 2. What does a linkage mainly do?

  3. 3. What happens when a small gear drives a larger gear?

14

Lesson round-up

Part 14 of 14

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

Not played

Points this lesson

0

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 3 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

Ask Luna

Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Report

Why the first prototype broke

A team designed a phone stand from 3 mm plywood. The brief said it must hold a 200 g phone at 60° and survive being knocked. The first prototype looked right but snapped at the joint after two knocks.

The team tested again and found the grain of the plywood ran across the narrowest part of the joint, so the wood split along it. They widened the joint from 8 mm to 20 mm, turned the piece so the grain ran along the load, and added a small fillet at the corner to spread the force.

The second prototype survived twenty knocks. It used 15% more material and took four minutes longer to cut — a trade-off the team recorded in their evaluation.

Written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

  1. Name the fault in the first prototype and explain why it happened.
  2. List the three changes the team made and what each one does.
  3. Write an evaluation of the second prototype against the brief, including the trade-off.

  • Design sheet

    Diagram

    Sketch two ideas with measurements and notes, then photograph the sheet.

    2 labelled sketches

  • Evaluation

    Writing

    Write how well your idea meets the brief and what you would change next time.

    6–8 sentences

Saved as you type.

Part 1 of 14 · Watch & discover

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    Understand how mechanical systems such as levers, linkages and gears create movement and change forces

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