An airplane wing
Air flows over a curved wing and lifts it, the same way a bird's wing does.
One real machine every week, taken apart so you can see every part move. Each one matches what we are learning that week.
Newton's third law, a full-flow staged combustion engine, thrust against weight, the rocket equation, the climb to orbit and catching the booster. Advanced level.
A spinning blade shaves wood into a perfect cone. Shapes and angles in action.
Number wheels roll from 9 to 0 and push the next wheel on: place value with real gears.
Three wheels, each with ten digits: 1,000 possible numbers, and only one opens it.
A lever pushes a staple through paper, and the anvil bends its legs flat.
A liquid turns to gas inside and carries heat away: solids, liquids and gases at work.
Ancient Egyptians lifted Nile water with a pole, a bucket and a heavy counterweight.
Electricity heats thin wires until they glow, and a spring pops the toast up.
Pedals, a chain and gears: a small wheel turns a big wheel fast.
Air flows over a curved wing and lifts it, the same way a bird's wing does.
Hot air is lighter than cool air, so the balloon floats up.
Pins on a turning drum pluck steel teeth: short teeth sing high, long teeth sing low.
Three mirrors reflect beads again and again into a symmetric pattern.
A magnet and a coil push a paper cone back and forth to make sound waves.
Pulleys and a counterweight let a crane lift far more than its own arm could.
Light travels in straight lines, so a tiny hole makes an upside-down picture.
One gear turns 12 times faster than another: how a clock shows hours and minutes.
Wind pushes the sail and the keel stops the boat sliding sideways.
A beam on a pivot shows which side is heavier, like an equation.
Tanks fill with water to sink and with air to rise: density in action.
A key lifts a felt hammer that strikes a string and then falls away.
A magnetized needle turns to line up with the Earth's magnetic field.
Turning a spiral inside a tube carries water uphill.
Pins of different heights line up only for the right key.
Wind turns the sails, and gears turn a millstone or a generator.
Wind pushes up on the tilted kite while the string holds it.
A curved steel tape stays stiff, and a spring rolls it back in.
Big gear, small gear: trading speed for strength.
Coins of different sizes fall through different slots.
A battery, a switch and a bulb make a complete loop: a circuit.
Water drips at a steady rate, and a float rises to show the time.
The Sun's shadow moves around the dial as the Earth turns.
A steel ship floats because its shape pushes away lots of water: Archimedes' idea.
Lenses bend light to make faraway things look near.
Hot gas rushes out the back and pushes the rocket forward.
It falls around the Earth forever: fast enough sideways to keep missing it.
A lamp and a big lens send a turning beam far over the sea.
Spinning blades are wings that go round and round.
Water pushing out of the nozzles spins the sprinkler round.
Squeezing the lever presses pads on the wheel: friction stops you.
Climbing high stores energy; rolling down turns it into speed.
A big canopy catches air and slows the fall.
A cable, a pulley and a counterweight lift the car gently.
Inked letters pressed onto paper: copies for everyone.
A thin filament glows when electricity flows through it.
Wheels and carries: the odometer idea turned into a calculator.
Switches that are on or off count in 1s and 0s.
Little explosions push pistons that turn the wheels.
Falling water spins a turbine to make electricity.
Sunlight knocks electrons loose to make electricity.
Joints and motors move one step at a time, like code.
Layer after layer of melted plastic builds a real object.
Sound travels along a tight string from cup to cup.