🏋️ M1 Force, Mass & Motion

Cogworks Logistics moves heavy crates all day and its machines keep stalling. You are the new junior engineers, armed with Newton’s laws and a spring scale.

Engineers, Advanced. Engineer Stamp: Newton’s Apprentice.

Lessons

  1. The ballast cart: Same pull, heavier cart. Slower? How much slower? Let’s measure, not guess.
  2. Mechanical advantage: the car jack: A person can lift a car with a jack. Where does the extra force come from?
  3. F = m × a lab: Newton said force, mass and acceleration are linked. Can your data prove it?
  4. The scissor lift: Scissor lifts raise workers 10 metres. How does a small rack push that high?
  5. Design Day: Least-force lifter: Cogworks wants a lifter any worker can use with one finger.
  6. Showcase: Strongman Contest: Official weigh-in. Lowest input force wins, but it must lift the full 10 cm.

Design challenge

Lift 500 g by 10 cm using the smallest measured input force.

Engineering ideas

Standards: MS-PS2-2