Introduction to screws, one of the simple machines.

With this book, kids will learn how screws work, where they're found, and their uses throughout history. They will learn that screws are simple machines that convert rotational motion into linear motion. A simple wood screw is made up of a metal shaft with a thread spiraled around it and a head with a groove in which a screwdriver can fit. When rotational motion is applied to the head of the screw, the screw converts the force to linear motion, which in turn drives the screw into the wood. Wood screws are just one example of this versatile simple machine, which will fascinate your budding scientific thinkers.

The word "screw" calls to mind the unassuming household connectors, but students will be interested to discover that there are many different kinds of screws, from large augers and mechanical drill presses to the lids of plastic jars! With readable text and an emphasis on practical application, this book explores the many ways that we use screws every day. The text is supplemented with clear, easy-to-understand diagrams, and illustrative photographs, while straightforward experiments involving household items will excite curiosity about this helpful, yet often overlooked, device.

The Best Tool of the Millennium The seeds of Rybczynski's elegant and illuminating new book were sown by The New York Times, whose editors asked him to write an essay identifying "the best tool of the millennium." The award-winning author of Home, A Clearing in the Distance, and Now I Sit Me Down, Rybczynski once built a house using only hand tools. His intimate knowledge of the toolbox -- both its contents and its history -- serves him beautifully on his quest. One Good Turn is a story starring Archimedes, who invented the water screw and introduced the helix, and Leonardo, who sketched a machine for carving wood screws. It is a story of mechanical discovery and genius that takes readers from ancient Greece to car design in the age of American industry. Rybczynski writes an ode to the screw, without which there would be no telescope, no microscope -- in short, no enlightenment science. One of our finest cultural and architectural historians, Rybczynski renders a graceful, original, and engaging portrait of the tool that changed the course of civilization.

What is a screw? How do we use screws in everyday life? Who invented the screw? Find out the answers to all these and more!

Making Machines with Screws looks at everything from lifting, gripping and fixing with screws to the role of screws in more complex machines, such as microscopes.