Rotor

We just learned about the Electric Motor.

In the motor, the spinning pole or shaft in the middle is called the Rotor.

The electric motor spins the rotor around, and then the rotor is connected to other gears or pulleys to use the spinning to move other things.



(from: wikipedia - rotor (electric))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Inertial Navigation System

Electric Motor

We just learned about the Bearing.

One type of motor used for a lot of things is an Elecric Motor.

This motor usually has some electric coils wrapped around a metal pole, spinning around inside a tube.

Some electric motors use the tube to force the pole to spin, and others take the energy from the spinning pole and use it to charge up electricity from the tube around it.


(from: wikipedia - electric motor)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Reaction Control System

Bearing

We just learned about the Axle.

Another part of machine work is a Bearing.

This is something that lets one part of a wheel spin around without moving another.
Like on a fidget spinner, you can hold the middle of it and the outside will spin around.
Or like a front bicycle wheel, the wheel will spin around the hole in the middle where the front handlebar is attached.

Usually this is done using ball bearings, which are tiny little balls covered in slimy grease.
On the outside is one metal cylinder, then a bunch of ball bearings, and then a smaller inside cylinder.

The outside cylinder can spin while the inside one is stopped, or the other way around.



(from: wikipedia - bearing (mechanical))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Attitude Control

Axle

We just learned about the big long spinning pole called the Shaft.

Another part of machines is an Axle.

An axle is a long spinning pole like a shaft, but it is connected to wheels on either side.
It is also usually used to help hold up something like a car or a train.

Sometimes the axle doesn't spin but the wheels do, kind of like on a bike.
When a bicycle's wheel spins, the metal post inside the wheel does not spin.
This is usually called a spindle instead of an axle.

Cars and trucks are sometimes talked about by how many axles they have.
This really means how many sets of wheels across from each other are there.
So a normal car would be 2 axles, but a big semi truck might have 5 or more axles on it to help spread out the weight carried by each axle.

Sometimes they have more than one set of wheels on an axle to help hold the weight, but that still only counts as one axle.


(from: wikipedia - axle)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU)

Shaft

We just learned about the Pulley.

Another part of a machine is a Shaft.

A shaft is a long pipe, rod or pole that is on the inside of some kind of bigger spinning wheel.
This can be part of a gear, sprocket or pulley.

When the gear spins around, it turns the pipe.

In some machines, the pipe is used to move something else farther away from the gear.
Like in a windmill, the big wheel outside that is moving has a long shaft attached to it.
The shaft goes into the building where it is hooked up to other gears to turn them and do something useful like grid up corn into flour.

When the windmill turns, the shaft spins, and the gears inside spin and do the work.

A car also has a shaft. When the car burns up gas it makes a shaft spin which then connects to other shafts that turn the wheels.



(from: wikipedia - shaft (mechanical engineering))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Airspeed Indicator

Pulley

We just learned about the Sprocket that has teeth like a gear, but is made for a chain.

Another type of wheel that is used in machines is a Pulley.

Just like a gear or sprocket it is a wheel that spins for a machine, but the outside of a pulley does not have any teeth.
It has a cable, rope or belt around it that spins around the wheel.

Sometimes a pulley wheel is flat, and sometimes it has a groove for the rope to try and hold the rope or cable in the right place.


(from: wikipedia - pulley)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Spacecraft Magnetometer

Sprocket

We just learned about the Gear.

Another piece of a machine is a Sprocket.

This is a wheel with teeth that looks a lot like a gear, but it is made to hook into a chain or a track.
If you look on a bicycle you will see a chain hooked to a wheel with teeth.
When you move the pedals it turns the wheel, which moves the chain, which turns the bike wheels and makes it go.
The wheel with teeth hooked to your pedals is a sprocket.

Sprockets are also used in things like tanks, or in other big machines.



(from: wikipedia - sprocket)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Gyroscope

Gear

We just learned about the Motor or engine that makes things move.

One very important part of most engines is the Gear.

Gears are wheels that have teeth on the end, and usually a hole in the middle.
The teeth on the end can match up with other gears that also have teeth.
So when one gear moves, it also turns the other gear.

If there is a big wide gear that is moving very slow, it can be hooked to a small gear that will spin very fast.
Or it can be hooked to a gear that is sideways, to change the direction of the movement.

Gears are in everything from car motors to clocks to bicycles.
Pretty much everything with moving parts uses at least one gear to help control the movement made by the energy!

The teeth on gears are called "cogs", and gears are sometimes called cogwheels.
Sometimes people will even refer to themselves as a "cog in the machine" meaning that they are just one part of a bigger machine that makes things work.



(from: wikipedia - gear)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Rockets - Star Tracker

Motor

We just started learning about Machines.

One of the most important things about a machine is the Motor, also sometimes called the engine.

The motor is the thing that takes some type of energy and turns it into movement.
Like a car's engine takes in gas, and then the engine burns the gas to turn it into movement that makes the car go.

Electrical motors can take electricity from a plug or a battery and use that to move something like a toy or a fan.

There are even types of motors that use steam, air, liquids or coils like toys that you wind up and they walk around.

Anything that takes in energy and then makes something move is a motor.
Really you can even think of our human bodies like engines that take in food and make our muscles move!


(from: wikipedia - steam engine)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Accelerometer

Machines

We've learned a lot about the science of forensics that detectives use to solve crimes.

Another type of science is the study of Machines, which are the things that make the world move.

This could be anything from a car that is driving down the street to a windmill that takes wind power and turns it into energy.

There are many types of machines in the world, and there are lots of jobs for people who work with machines.
One type of job for working with machines is a mechanical engineer.

These people help figure out how to build machines and how to use them to build the things we need in our lives.

Another types of job is a machine operator, like the people who use the machine to do work.
This could be someone driving a big bulldozer, or someone working in a big building using a machine to cut or lift things.

Sometimes our machines break down and we need people to fix them.
There are lots of people working those jobs too, like a mechanic that looks at a car when it isn't working any more and has to figure out how to get it running again.

There are so many machines in our world that we need a lot of smart people to help make them work!


(from: wikipedia - mechanical engineering)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Altimeter