Gears (Gear Stages)

INTRODUCTION

Gears are wheels with teeth on the outer portion of the rim. The gear moves about an axle, which is a rod or shaft fitted into the center of the gear. This experiment is designed to show how gears can be used to change the direction of motion of an object or change the speed of an object. All wheels move and do work by rotating.

MATERIALS

• Gear factory stages
• Mulitplier stages

WHAT TO DO

1. Use the gear factory stages first. Count the number of teeth on each gear. When the gear on the left is rotated once, count the number of times the other gear rotates. Use all three stages (small gear with medium gear, two gears of the same size, and large gear with small gear).
2. Next monitor the rotation of the gears. If the first gear moves clockwise, what happens to the second gear? What direction will a third gear rotate if connected to the second gear?
3. Next try the multiplication machine which has a large gear connected to a medium size gear connected to a small gear.
4. If the large gear is turned one rotation how many rotations of the small gear occur?
5. If the large gear is turned two rotations, how many rotations of the small gear occur?

QUESTIONS

1. Using the information above, if the large gear is rotated four times, how many times will the small gear rotate?
2. Write your own multiplication problem and test it with the multiplication machine.

SOURCE

Unknown

© S. Olesik, WOW Project, Ohio State University, 2001.