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Help.I`ve just volunteered to do talk to the local cub scouts on the topic of "gears" as part of an evening on learning how things work.
I thought I`d take the bike in and use that as a demo but will need to do a bit of a talk.
Has anyone got any links to a tutorial on gears aimed at beginners/children?
Sheldon might be a bit heavy for a 7 year dold on`t want to confuse them with gear inches and chainlines,just yet!
It'd be great using a bike
get 2 volunteers. sit each on the bike and, while holding them, let 'em pedal 1 full rev slowly and let the kids mark how far they travel - one in low gear and 1 in high.
Then ask the kids which gear will be able to ride fastest for 10 yards (on the flat somewhere). Next ask em who will ride fastest for 100 yards. Hopefully different winners once the big gear has spun up to speed.
Regardless, next find a steepish hill and make them ride up that in top gear !
think about explaining how they work, rather than why they work.
keep it simple > input at one speed, output at another.
they're only 7.
(like what scaredypants said)
Good suggestions there.Particularly liking scaredypants suggestion of measuring distance travelled. 🙂
Make sure you've got a small enough bike!
have them calculate gear inches to get the same measure for 26 er a 650 b and a 29 er 😯
the pick a gear turn once is an excellent way of explaining/showing it - great suggestion
Using the bike is too complicated straight off, I would be making up some card cogs, so you have one with a handle to turn & various numbers of cogs that turn from that & you just ask simple stuff like what direction cog C is going when you turn A clockwise...
If your cogs are different diameters you can perhaps then move onto cog C does 3 revolutions to cog A one revolution...
This will be loads easier for the kids to see.
I remember having an argument when I was about that age with someone else who claimed that his bike had 10 gears - he was rich and boasted a lot so it was bound to be made up rubbish. I realised it was just an empty boast as I'd counted them and there were 5 at the back and 2 and the front, and that don't add up to 10.
I'd cover that issue.
With my 7 year old: Turn it that way for when you're going to set off, as you get faster, turn it the other way. Worked a treat. She got it straight away
Keep it simple
say anything you want, . . they won't be listening . . .
Can you rig up a pulley with mechanical advantage to lift something heavy (maybe to lift some of the kids)
Keep adding loops, to add advantage to the winch until they can lift their mate(s) off the ground.
Then explain how that relates to the bike gears.
Dave
Low gears make it easy to pedal but you go slower, you use them on hills.
That's all you need to know. If you want to show them what you mean just find a hill. I don't think you need a big talk, it'll just baffle (some of) them.
If anyone asks why, tell them later.