simple machines, examples from nature sled design project: simple machines draft
TRANSCRIPT
Simple Machines, Examples from Nature
SLED Design Project: Simple Machines
draft
The LeverYour skeletal muscles work as levers to move your body.
The Lever
The Wheel and Axle
http://videosift.com/video/Nature-invented-the-wheel
Salamanders and Caterpillars, oh my!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmLS2WXZQxU
And Golden Wheel Spiders, too!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4odlo0Afjs
The Wheel and AxlePlanthoppers hop with a modified wheel: The Gear.
Gears on hind legs
Planthopper synchronize their hind leg movements in 30 millionths of a second using small gears on the first segment of its hind legs (similar to the top of your thigh bone).As one leg prepares to leap, the interlocking gear system causes the other leg to move at the same time. This lets the planthopper to propel itself faster and farther and in a straighter path to escape danger. At such speeds, synchronizing leg movements is very important, as one wrong move could send the insect springing to the side instead of forward.
Planthopper nymph
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cq0Mf2pt2XA
http://www.npr.org/2013/09/13/219739500/living-gears-help-this-bug-jump
The Pulley
“The pulley is a way of getting force to go around corners…”
“The patella, or knee cap, allows your thigh muscles to lift your lower leg without crushing the knee joint. If the quadriceps were connected directly to your shin, every time it contracted, the bones of the lower leg would grind into the base of the femur, and it would take a lot of effort to move. But by routing the connection over the top of the patella, evolution changed the geometry--when the quad pulls on the lower leg, the force comes from in front of the shin, rather than from directly above, so the shin moves easily.”
The Inclined Plane
Penguins, too! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkMzHGA8GgM
Cats like them.
The Inclined Plane
The Inclined Plane
Wing-assisted incline running (WAIR): when a bird flaps its wings to aid in climbing a slope. Ground birds use this as an escape strategy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e81J915TEXgJ Exp Biol 214:2354-2361, 2011
The Wedge
http://www.asknature.org/strategy/4c3d00f23cae38c1d23517b6378859ee
“If a kingfisher had a rounded beak, such as on the left, it would push water ahead of it, scaring or displacing the prey. Instead, the wedge-shaped beak and head (right) enters the water without a splash, increasing the changes of a successful hunt. Artist: Emily Harrington. Copyright: All rights reserved.”
The Kingfisher
The Wedge
http://besttravelphotos.me/2012/11/14/airborne-fishing-kingfisher-england/
The Kingfisher fishing!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CsyenHROSE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YRM0sy3xIY
The ScrewPapuan Weevils have leg joints that screw together!
The nut: The outer part of the joint (the coxa) has an inner screw thread (A & B). The screw: The inner part of the joint (the trocanter) has an external screw thread (C & D).The beetles’ muscles pull on the leg to turn the screw!
The Screw: Hermit Crabs
As hermit crabs grow, their abdomen grows into a “corkscrew” spiral shape to “screw into the shell” that they are living live in. Most shells contain a right-handed (clockwise) spiral, and most hermit crabs have a “right-handed spiral” for their abdomen. Some species of hermit crabs live in left-handed (counter-clockwise) spiral shells and have a “left-handed spiral” abdomen. As the hermit crab grows, this puts such a hermit crab at a disadvantage in the housing market as left-handed shells are less common.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGwoOOz2s2g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8hZ7MM1rOg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermit_crab
A hermit crab out of it’s shell.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogCp1W7cRZ4
Combining Simple Machines: the hamster trap.
The Lever References/Image Sources
http://discovermagazine.com/galleries/zen-photo/s/simple-machines#.UnmekChUBQY
http://www.google.com/search?q=lever+skeletal+system&client=safari&rls=en&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=p6B5UtePEubiyAHRjYG4Dw&ved=0CCkQsAQ&biw=1275&bih=953#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=sDuxkUW9-R68CM%3A%3BX2GoUnx7KNuikM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.rci.rutgers.edu%252F~uzwiak%252FAnatPhys%252FAPFallLect14_files%252Fimage001.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.rci.rutgers.edu%252F~uzwiak%252FAnatPhys%252FAPFallLect14.html%3B640%3B480
http://classes.midlandstech.edu/carterp/Courses/bio210/chap10/lecture1.html
The Wheel and Axel References/Image Sources
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2013/09/a-clockwork-insect-common-garden-bug-sports-mechanical-gears.html
Planthoppers & Gears
Malcom Burrows, Gregory Sutton. Interacting Gears Synchronize Propulsive Leg Movements in a Jumping Insect Science 341:1254-1256 2013.
http://videosift.com/video/Nature-invented-the-wheel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmLS2WXZQxU
Salamander and caterpillars
http://www.notcot.org/post/45960/
Golden Wheel Spider
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/meet-crafty-spider-rolls-wheel-escape-predators-video-002553142.html
http://www.digitalspy.com/british-tv/i524620-8/david-attenboroughs-africa-episode-one-pictures-a-golden-wheel-spider.html
The Pulley References/Image Sources
http://discovermagazine.com/galleries/zen-photo/s/simple-machines#.UnmekChUBQY
The Inclined Plane References/Image Sources
http://www.vetstreet.com/welcome-to-bob-walkers-feline-fun-house
http://skyharbor.com/images/SideBar_Switchback.jpg
J Exp Biol. 2007 May;210(Pt 10):1742-51.Aerodynamics of wing-assisted incline running in birds.Tobalske BW, Dial KP.
http://www2.umt.edu/urelations/rview/winter04/flight.htm
The Wedge References/Image Sources
add
http://strangebehaviors.wordpress.com/2011/06/
The Screw References/Image Sources
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2011/06/30/zooming-in-on-beetles-knees-biologists-find-tiny-screws-and-nuts/#.UnmUgyhUBQY
Thomas van de Kamp, Patrik Vagovič, Tilo Baumbach, Alexander Riedel. A Biological Screw in a Beetle’s Leg. Science 333:52 2011.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20638-beetles-beat-us-to-the-screw-and-nut.html#.Unmy8ihUBQb