STEM 

Systems Engineering

Year 11 student, Bass, had this to say about a recent System Engineering class:

‘Pulleys are an important type of system used in many applications such as elevators, cranes, and flagpoles. They have a wheel shape with a groove that runs in the middle for a rope or chain. They are essentially used to make lifting heavy objects easier, requiring less force. In our Systems Engineering class, students were tasked to create different pulley systems. These systems ranged from single pulley systems to more complicated ones which used multiple pulleys. The more pulleys that were added, the easier it was to lift the weight of 450g. We created a system which had a mechanical advantage of five, making the weight feel five times lighter than it actually is. We then recorded our findings using photos and equations, which helped to find the theoretical advantage that the pulley system gave us.’

Bass Olsen