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Levers, compression and pneumatic force

Children investigate how levers work, using tug of war equipment. When the girls are unevenly matched with the boys, they discover that moving the rope gives them more pulling power with less effort. A giant syringe has a dropping ball, which forces air through its tube to move a tennis ball upwards.

Children experiment with compressed air, discovering how much pressure it will take to lift heavy weights. Pumping up a balloon forces more air into the same space demonstrates how pressure increases when air is compressed. The force created is called 'pneumatic force'. Forces drive many tools and devices, so we need to have an understanding of how they work.

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3 minutes

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