Rolling Blackouts & Environmental Impact – What are our
Electricity Options? The goal is for the students to understand
the environmental design considerations required when generating
electricity. The electric power that we use every day at home
and work is generated by a variety of power plants. Power plants
are engineered to utilize the conversion of one form of energy
to another. The main components of a power plant are an input
source of energy that is used to turn large turbines, and a
method to convert the turbine rotation into electricity. The
input sources of en Levers that Lift This lesson introduces
students to three of the six simple machines used by many
engineers: the lever, the pulley, and the wheel-and-axle. In
general, engineers use the lever to magnify the force applied to
an object, the pulley to lift heavy loads over a vertical path,
and the wheel-and-axle to magnify the torque applied to an
object. The mechanical advantage of these machines helps
determine their ability to make work easie