Wikijunior:How Things Work/Wedge
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A wedge is something that is thicker on one end or edge and thin on the other end or edge, like the shape of a slice of pie. Wedges are one of the six simple machines.
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[edit] Who invented it?
The origin of the wedge is unknown, because it has been in use as early as the stone age. The wedge is one of the oldest machines; when someone made an arrowhead, they were making a wedge.
It's not wrong to assume that wedge is really one of the very first inventions humans did. Other first inventions are the hammer, spear (a long stick with a sharpened point)and lever. Our first exemplar of a working wedge we see in the knives, which humans made before they could master fire or any other thing. The first knife was made by selecting a broken piece of a stone that could fit easily in your hand and was sharp enough to cut meat, grass and bark. The oldest knife made from stone date some millions of years back.
From all the animals, only some apes use sticks for hunting and very few of them big stones in a way we use hammer to smash nut fruitswhich might otherwise be impossible for them to eat. But none of the animals know knives, that’s to say, have invented the wedge.
[edit] How does it get power?
Its power is derived from outside forces acting on it.
[edit] How does it work?
A wedge is a simple machine, technically a portable double inclined plane, used to separate two objects, or portions of objects, through the application of force, perpendicular to the inclined surfaces, developed by conversion of force applied to the wide end. The mechanical advantage of a wedge depends on the ratio of its length to its thickness. Where a short wedge with a wide angle does the job faster, it requires more force than a long wedge with a smaller angle.
[edit] How dangerous is it?
Because a wedge is thin on one edge or end, that means the thin part is sharp. There are many wedges you have to be careful with, like knives and scissors.
[edit] What does it do?
Wedges are usually meant to cut, but they have many other purposes, too.
[edit] How does it vary?
Common examples include knives, axes, nails,staplers
and doorstops.
[edit] How has it changed the world?
Without wedges, we would not have been able to cut wood or hunt animals before we had elessors help us cut paper. Wedges are very important. ctricity. Today, nails hold our buildings together, knives help us cook, and sci
[edit] What idea(s) and/or inventions had to be developed before it could be created?
The only thing that people had to know was how to chip rock to make it sharp. Now we usually use metal for most wedges.
