Hypothesis

Hypothesis:

Meagan: I think when we put our fingers closest to the fulcrum we will need to use more force, making it harder. The easiest will probably be the middle of the tweezers.

Dani: I think that when mt fingers are at the top of the tweezers it will be harder to pick up the penny then when my fingers are at the bottom. I think that the bottom will be the easiest.

Casey: I think it will be harder to lift the penny up when I hold it at the fulcrum. It will be easiest to pick up the penny when your at the very bottom of the tweezers.

Jessica: I think that step one will be the hardest because you have to put more force on it and the seond one will be the easiest because if you hold the bottom of the tweezers they will slip out of your hand which leaves step 2 the easiest one.

Aaron: I think it will be the easiest to pick up the coin with my fingers from the top.

Observations:

The first trial had to use a lot of force to keep the penny up. Everyone had trouble picking the penny up. The second trial was easier to pick up and keep up. No one had trouble picking the penny up. The last trial wasn't much different from the second, it was easier then the second trial.

Discussion:

The tweezers are a third class lever. With a Third class lever the efort is in the middle, the fulcrum is at the top, and the load is at the bottom. When the effort changes on a third class lever the perfomance is affected. The effort is less when it is applied closer to the load.