Atwood's machine

American  

noun

Physics.

1. a device consisting of two unequal masses connected by a string passed over a pulley, used to illustrate the laws of motion.

---

Etymology

Origin of Atwood's machine

Named after George Atwood (1746–1807), English mathematician who invented it

Example Sentences

For the only "machines" possible to use in illustration of simple mechanics are the screw, the wedge, the scale, the lever, the wheel-and-axle, and Atwood's machine.

From Project Gutenberg

The Atwood's machine is therefore forced on us; as to its construction, it is, as you are aware, composed of two upright posts, with a cross-bar fitted with pulleys and strings, and is intended to show the motion of bodies acting under a constant force—the force of gravity, to wit.

From Project Gutenberg

The earl therefore shot himself; and it was the small globular silver pistol, such as this'—here Zaleski drew a little embossed Venetian weapon from a drawer near him—'that appeared in the gloom to the excited Hester as a "ball of cotton," while it was being drawn upward by the Atwood's machine.

From Project Gutenberg

On the same page of my quires on which this is mentioned, there is a great list of apparatus to be constructed for Lucasian Lectures, notes of experiments with Atwood's Machine, &c.

From Project Gutenberg