point of
application of force
point of application
of load
x
load arm effort arm
Mars Rovers …
… come in large and small sizes. They often
have fun names that are meant to express the
spirit of human exploration. On the left, you
see
“Spirit,”
“Sojourner”
is in the middle, and
“Curiosity”
is on the right. “Spirit” spent 6
years exploring Mars! “Curiosity” is the
newcomer: It only landed on the Martian
surface on August 6, 2012.
DID YOU KNOW?
What looks like a construction site is actually a
plate compactor race. This contest is held every
year in Eddelak, Germany. With a plate
compactor in tow, each participant has to travel
along a 100-meter course — across hills, barriers,
high-speed straightaways, sand, and gravel. The
winner gets to call himself champ!
LEVERAGE
You will find levers all over the place, so
me hidden and some
in plain sight, in everyday life: door hand
les, the pedals of
your bicycle, a pair of pliers, to name a f
ew. Your arms and
legs are levers too, of course.
A lever is a rigid body that can be rotated a
round an axis. It
can be any shape. Usually, it will be shap
ed like a rod. You
can use a lever to
amplify force. The end
of the lever on which
the force acts is called
the effort arm, while
the end used to lift a
load is called the
load arm.
SMALL, BUT POWERFUL!
Plate compactors also
come in small sizes.
The little ones are called
vibratory rammers, and
are used to pack the
ground in areas where
there is not much space.
Your arms
and legs are
levers too.
CHECK IT OUT
23
Vibration Technology
