Levers, linkages and gears
Mechanisms are how designers trade one thing for another: distance for force, speed for torque.
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
- 25 minutes
- 14 parts to scroll through
- 3 quick checks
- Marked quiz at the end
- Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses
Words to know
Scroll down — the lesson carries on below
Watch & discover
Part 1 of 14
Watch first
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
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.
Explore the idea
Part 3 of 14
Learn
Levers
A lever pivots at a fulcrum. Move the fulcrum closer to the load and a smaller effort lifts it — but the effort has to travel further. Nothing is free; you trade distance for force.
Explore the idea
Part 4 of 14
Learn
Linkages
Linkages change the direction or type of movement. A reverse-motion linkage turns a push into a pull; a bell crank turns horizontal motion into vertical.
Quick check
Part 5 of 14
Quick check
Moving a fulcrum closer to the load means…
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.
Quick check
Part 7 of 14
Quick check
A 40-tooth gear driven by a 10-tooth gear gives a ratio of…
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.
Explore the idea
Part 9 of 14
Learn
Gears
A small driver gear turning a large driven gear slows the output but increases turning force. The gear ratio is the number of teeth on the driven gear divided by the driver.
Quick check
Part 10 of 14
Quick check
What does a reverse-motion linkage do?
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
Challenge round
Part 12 of 14
Game · Fill the gaps
Finish the sentences
Choose the word that belongs in each gap.
____ change the direction or type of movement.
Mastery quiz
Part 13 of 14
Marked quiz
End of lesson quiz: Levers, linkages and gears
3 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.
1. Moving a fulcrum closer to the load means…
2. A 40-tooth gear driven by a 10-tooth gear gives a ratio of…
3. What does a reverse-motion linkage do?
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 LunaDo 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.
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
- Name the fault in the first prototype and explain why it happened.
- List the three changes the team made and what each one does.
- Write an evaluation of the second prototype against the brief, including the trade-off.
Design sheet
DiagramSketch two ideas with measurements and notes, then photograph the sheet.
2 labelled sketches
Evaluation
WritingWrite 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
How this is going
- Not looked at yet
Understand how mechanical systems such as levers, linkages and gears create movement and change forces