Force and displacement on a step wheel

Principle

1. The students should measure the forces which maintain equilibrium with different load masses on a step wheel.
2. They should measure the force and the length of the load arms of a step wheel, and calculate the products load × load arm and force × force arm.

From their measuring results they should conclude that, under static conditions, a step wheel works like a lever and that the aforementioned products should be equal - as it is the case for a lever.

Benefits

• Student-suitable experiment descriptions with reports available