Question

What is the function of a screw? Give any one use of screws?

Answer 1

Hint:Screw is actually a classification of an inclined plane itself except it is responsible for producing a turning effect which is applied on it. The construction and the way screws are designed needs to be probed upon in detail in order to find out its function.The everyday applications of screws that we see in our daily life would be helpful in determining the use of a screw.

Complete step by step answer:
The above problem revolves around the concept of screws and their role in the varied applications that we see in our daily life. In order to know the function of a screw we first need to know what a screw is and its design and construction and how this helps in its function.

The screw is said to be a simple machine and it is often categorized as an inclined plane. This is due to its design and the way it has been constructed. Hence, now let us look at its construction. The top of the screw consists of something called the head of the screw which is where the pressure and force is applied and it is designed in such a way that the head provides a grip for the screwdriver or a wrench to operate with it.

This portion is shaped as a circle while the rest of the portion of the screw extends to form a cylinder type shape where the tip is called as the shank has the least area compared to the rest of the portion of the screw in order to apply more pressure or force to an object. The portion extending from the head becomes thinner and thinner to form the tip pointed at the end.

The screw is said to consist of a series of ridges or spiral like structures that wrap around the cylindrical part that extends from the head of the screw and these are known as threads which are basically the inclined planes of the screw which is why it is said to be a type of an inclined plane.

Now that we have looked into what a screw is and its design we will now go into the function of a screw. The main function of a screw is to convert rotational motion produced by the torque that is produced by it into an up down motion, that is, a linear straight motion.It does this by acting as a force multiplier which means that a greater amount of force is applied with less amount of effort and hence is useful.

When a force is given at an angle or in other words when we provide the turning effect on the screw with a screwdriver or a wrench then the turning effect produces a torque and this torque is converted into linear motion.Thus this is the principle that is used behind the insertion of a screw onto any hard object in order to hold it in position. The linear motion that it converts is responsible for the screw’s main function of holding objects together as we fit it in the surface, for example wood in order to hold the piece of wood in place.

When rotated the screw goes drilling into the surface which is where the conversion of the rotatory motion to linear motion occurs as the screw slides linearly inside the surface of the hard material that is considered. When it reaches towards the head the head fastens the objects and keeps the object fixed to the required position and hence they are also known as fasteners or even pressers. We see screws in our tables, shelfs and many other furniture items at our house.

One of its other main functions is to help in lifting objects to a certain height. The rotatory motion of the screw for example is very useful in lifting cars using bolts with nuts and a jack which tends to produce a displacement of the load, that is, raise the load by an amount using an instrument known as a jack.

The use of screws are mainly the varied applications it is used in like the ones discussed above. The main use of a screw would be its capability to allow its head to rotate about its position and due to its property to act as a force multiplier it is much easier to use along with other instruments like a wrench or a screwdriver in order to get work done with least effort unlike nails which don’t have the thread like structure on them hence making the effort which is needed to put on nails to be greater than that on the screws as the tend to slide in easier.

The other use of screws is that they are easy to dismantle and are reusable which also seems to be one of its many advantages. One major use of screws is that the output force produced by the screw is greater than the input force that is applied to it and hence the efficiency of this machine is high

Note:Screws with threads designed closer to each other is said to turn easily and gets inserted onto the material faster, that is, the distance it covers is more when compared to a screw with threads which are widely spaced since the distance it must cover is more so the force to be applied to be more and hence the work done should be more, that is, it is harder to turn these screws comparatively.