What is Machine: Definition and 966 Discussions

A machine is a human-made device that uses power to apply forces and control movement to perform an action. Machines can be driven by animals and people, by natural forces such as wind and water, and by chemical, thermal, or electrical power, and include a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement. They can also include computers and sensors that monitor performance and plan movement, often called mechanical systems.
Renaissance natural philosophers identified six simple machines which were the elementary devices that put a load into motion, and calculated the ratio of output force to input force, known today as mechanical advantage.Modern machines are complex systems that consist of structural elements, mechanisms and control components and include interfaces for convenient use. Examples include: a wide range of vehicles, such as automobiles, boats and airplanes; appliances in the home and office, including computers, building air handling and water handling systems; as well as farm machinery, machine tools and factory automation systems and robots.

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  1. K

    Unbelievable knex ball machine

    Someone has way too much free time on their hands. http://devour.com/video/giant-knex-ball-machine/
  2. J

    What do the variables in the Atwood's Machine equation signify?

    I'd really like for someone to explain the last bit of the equation used in the Atwood's Machine experiment. [Forget this gray part]Specifically, I don't understand what F means in F = Mg - mg = (M - m)g, and would appreciate that being defined. Secondly, I don't understand why a = F/(M+m) is...
  3. amarante

    Boost Your State Machine Knowledge: Exercises for Mealy and Moore Machines

    Hello, I am looking for any exercises about State Machines, Mealy and Moore Machines, so I could study for my test. I have already googled it, but it's kind of hard to find something. Does anyone recommend a book or site, with some good exercises? Thanks in advance
  4. T

    Dynamics of Machine Course Help

    Hi All, I was wondering if anyone could post some videos or some websites where I can read about Dynamics required for Mechanical Engineering i.e. related to vectors , how to add vectors , how to find the resultant. I searched YouTube but I am not really getting any good responses. I am a...
  5. B

    Engineering Sequence detector, finite state machine circuit

    Homework Statement Please see the attached photo. (The one with the green highlighter), I haven't written it out to avoid mistakes. Homework Equations None. The Attempt at a Solution I have constructed a moore state diagram, a state transition table and come up with boolean...
  6. iVenky

    Drop Location in Bean Machine: Does It Matter?

    In the bean machine, we usually drop the balls from the center of the top right? That's the reason why most of the balls accumulate in the middle bin. If you drop the balls from the top right corner (say) then balls should fall in the bins in the right side, right? Thanks a lot.
  7. O

    What is in demand, that I could machine, for a little extra cash?

    So I have a degree in Mechanical Engineering, access to a machine shop, and all the free scrap metal I want (steel or aluminum mostly). I also make perilously little income because I'm just a measly intern. I have a stash from my last job that is keeping me running until I can convince my...
  8. K

    Pattern recognition and machine learning problem 2.7

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  9. S

    Lubrication - is fine machine oil better ?

    Lubrication -- is fine machine oil "better"? So there is always a debate on gun forums over if lubricants marked for firearms are better then motor oil or cheaper automotive lubricants. I'm curious if anyone here has any hard information on the differences and what is better?
  10. F

    A hypothetical machine (fluid expansion)

    Hello, Imagine that we have a fluid heated up by solar energy (every day during sunlight). Due to higher temperature it would undergo thermal expansion and do some mehanical work while expanding, right? And during night it would cool down and hence compress and do some negative mechanical...
  11. A

    Atwood machine with two holes in pulley.

    Homework Statement A system consists of a pulley and two masses m1, m2 haning from it as shown in the figure. The pulley is a disk of radius R with constant mass density that has two circular hole with radius R/2. Find the angular acceleration of the pulley. Figure attached. Homework...
  12. A

    Fres = ma for atwood fall machine

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  13. Y

    What is the gear ratio and horsepower required for an ECAP machine gearbox?

    Our lab is looking at designing a new ECAP machine (Equal Channel Angular Pressing). It needs to be driven by an electric motor attached to a gearbox. From their modeling and data collected from their existing ECAP machine they are requesting the output shaft on the gearbox to have a 2,000,000...
  14. P

    Would a downhill inclined plane be a simple machine?

    Simply, what the title sugests, would going downhill on inclined plane be considered a simple machine? If so, how is this decreasing the amount of force needed?
  15. berkeman

    Small Liquid CO2 Manufacturing Machine?

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  16. P

    Would a toy car wheel count as a simple machine?

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  17. F

    I have to transform some machine for use them in United state

    Hi, First, I would like to ask for your apologize for my very bad english... My name is Frédéric Serrano, I'm a technician and I'm starting my own business. For a new contract my customer ask me to adapt his industrial machine for the USA. So I have to comeback to the basic rule. Here in...
  18. J

    Steam in My Espresso Machine

    I drink a lot of espresso. From my minimal knowledge of espresso machines, I understand that the water is heated into steam which creates pressure forcing the steam through the coffee grounds. After every batch of espresso I let the machine sit overnight unplugged. Presumably, the water gas...
  19. R

    Working out The law of the machine

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  20. Evo

    Man Puts Toddler in Washing Machine and Turns it On

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  21. P

    Modified Atwood Machine Problem

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  22. C

    Multidimensional machine learning

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  23. C

    How would this NOT work as a perpetual work/motion machine?

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  24. A

    Time Machine (Future Technology)

    I heard many time the word of Time Machine. Can the concept of Time Machine become true in future? what is your opinion...?
  25. X

    What's the difference between Turing Machine and UTM?

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  26. P

    Proper Wiring of Old Washing Machine Motor

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  27. X

    Turing machine - polynomial time expression

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  28. L

    Help finding friction force of block moving across horizontal atwood's machine

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  29. T

    Washing machine motor soap extruder

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  30. E

    Acceleration in an Atwood's Machine

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  31. E

    Acceleration in a Weight Machine

    Homework Statement An Atwood's machine consists of two masses, m1 and m2, connected by a string that passes over a pulley. If the pulley is a disk of radius R and mass M, find the acceleration of the masses. Express your answers in terms of variables m1,m2, M, R, and appropriate constants...
  32. R

    Managing Continuous Operation of Flame Machine with Sleep Function

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  33. N

    Spindle gearbox: milling machine tool speed changer

    Hi guys, Im currently working on a spindle gear box and what is required from the gearbox is it to change speeds to 250, 500, 1000, 2500, 4000 rpm. I've done some research and seen some of the basic layouts of some gearboxes, mainly from a vehicles viewpoint, but what what i am not getting is...
  34. H

    How to calculate required hp for machine

    one rubber coated roll weight 1000 kg. dia. 300 mm & face length of 6360 mm. bothe end shaft dia. 65 rotating in antifrictional bearings. i want to rotate the roll at 100 rpm within 60 seconds. so please help me out to find the HP required of geared motor of 1400 rpm input of motor &...
  35. D

    What is the acceleration of masses in an Atwood machine with a rotating pulley?

    Homework Statement I'm trying to find the acceleration of the masses in an atwood machine, the pulley has a rotational inertia I. The pulley has a radius R Picture : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Atwood.svg But I made it accelerate the other way, so the equations from Newtons 2nd law are...
  36. T

    Courses Will a Machine Language Course Benefit My Computational Physics Emphasis?

    I'm thinking of taking machine language over the summer because it seems interesting to me but I'm not sure if it'll be useful to my emphasis in computational physics. The objectives of the class are below, could anyone give me advice on whether it'll be helpful to me or not. Thank you. A...
  37. G

    MATLAB Find the Smallest Positive Real Number in MATLAB: Machine Epsilon Calculation

    Simple enough - I'm just trying to find the smallest positive real number, ε, such that 1 + ε ≠ 1 in MATLAB (double precision). So the value 'eps' in MATLAB is actually not quite defined this way, and using this program min = 0; max = 1; test = 1; while test~=(min+max)/2 test =...
  38. E

    Deriving a formula for atwoods Machine

    Homework Statement Figure 5-53 shows Atwood's machine, in which two containers are connected by a cord (of negligible mass) passing over a frictionless pulley (also of negligible mass). At time t = 0 container 1 has m1 and container 2 has mass m2 with m1 < m2, but container 1 is losing mass...
  39. N

    Testing RAM on Board using Machine Assembly Code

    I'm currently taking a Microprocessor course and we are adding to our breadboard week by week. The most recent add on was a UT6264CPCL RAM chip. Other chip specifications are given below in in 2. Homework Equations . My question is, how do we test to make sure that the RAM is working using two...
  40. D

    Rube Goldberg Machine for physics class in highschool any ideas?

    I need to build a rube goldberg machine for physics class and i am stuck on ideas. It must include circular motion, projectile motion, rolling motion, gravitational energy, kinetic energy, elastic enrgy, conservation of momentum, and electric or magnetic fields. It cannot be powered by more than...
  41. C

    A perpetual machine model that sets me thinking

    Now I'm not a PMI (perpetual machine inventor). In fact I'm quite convinced that there is no such thing as that. But a while ago, I saw the schematics of a perpetual machine that is hard to debate. Well this is how the machine worked. The inventor argued that if you have two magnets as...
  42. I

    What is the Algorithm Behind Candy Machines?

    Hi all, You have probably seen these candy machines before. Tubes that contain candies of different colors and drop candies into a receiver once you inserted the coin. I was watching these more than a quarter of an hour at lunch time (waiting for someone to buy candy) and thought that...
  43. G

    Building a Physics Machine: 6 Concepts, 12 Units

    Hello, I am in Grade 12 physics class and I have been given a open ended project; where we are required to build/create a machine which would involve at least 6 of the physics concepts: ramps, pulleys, levers, transfer of momentum/energy, projectile motion, circular motion, stored elastic...
  44. S

    Does Newton's third law apply to Atwood's machine?

    Homework Statement Consider Atwood's machine with two masses, m1 and m2 with m1 less than m2. Now, according to application of Newton's third law, the system accelerates in the direction of the heavier mass (here, m2). This, however, seems to contradict Newton's third law, which implies that...
  45. R

    Why isn't this a machine sized integer

    In:list5 = Import["Composites.csv"]; (*imports a list of odd integers each less than 1000000*) Timing[f=Compile[{{Caa,_Integer},{S0,_Integer},{S1,_Integer},{Co,_Integer}}, Module[{xCo=Co,xS0=S0,xS1=S1,Temp},While[Temp=Mod[6 xS1-xS0-6,Caa];xCo>0&&Temp>=1, xS0=xS1;xS1=Temp;xCo--]; xCo]]...
  46. C

    Need bending machine simulation software and where to start to make it?

    I am doing my internship in the factory produce pipe, kabel for automotive. We get one project from user to make a bended pipe... So far we bend it manually using some torsion tool and operated by human... The tug time is so high so we plan to make the machine if the cost is coverable...
  47. P

    Anyone work as a Data Scientist/Data Miner/in Machine Learning?

    This seems to be the new 'it' job in the tech sector and I'm considering getting into this line of work, but because it seems relatively new I'm having trouble finding out what it's like to work as a data scientist. The two things I'm somewhat concerned about is if the work is interesting or...
  48. D

    How does friction affect data in a modified Atwood machine?

    Homework Statement I have a modified atwood machine which is made up of a vertical mass hanger (hanging over the side of a table) connected to a horizontal cart (on the table) via a rope (un-stretchable) and a pulley (massless, frictionless, etc). The cart wheels have negligible friction...
  49. M

    Given potential difference of X-ray machine find energy of X rays

    Homework Statement Given is the X-ray machine in which electrons are accelerated in the potential difference of 10000 V before hitting the electrode and loosing its energy. Find the maximum energy of the emitted X rays in keV and in Joules. Homework Equations The Attempt at a...
  50. A

    Help on Mango peeler & juice extractor machine

    Hi I am an Electrical Engineering graduate hoping to develop a mango peeler and juice extractor machine. The problem is i don't have any mechanical design skills except my understanding of Engineering mechanics. My questions are: 1.Can you please, give me any design idea on how to...
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