Wheel and axle

**History of the Wheel and Axle**:
– Halaf culture depicted earliest wheeled vehicle
– Earliest potters wheel in Middle East in 5th millennium BCE
– True potters wheels in Mesopotamia by 4200–4000 BCE
– Evidence of wheeled vehicles in Mesopotamia and Eastern Europe in 4th millennium BCE
– Diffusion of wheeled vehicle from Near East to Europe in mid-4th millennium BCE
– Oldest surviving wheel found in Ur, Iraq, dates back to 3100 BCE
– Earliest wooden wheel found in Ljubljana Marshes, Slovenia, dates back to 5100–5350 years old
– Spoked wheels evidence in China dated between 2000 and 1500 BCE

**Mechanical Advantage of the Wheel and Axle**:
– Wheel and axle assembly consists of two disks of different diameters
– Tangential force on the wheel can exert larger force on the axle
– Mechanical advantage is the ratio of output force to input force
– Varying radii of axle and wheel changes mechanical advantage
– Mechanical advantage computed as the ratio of resistance to effort

**Development and Use of Wheeled Vehicles**:
– Wheeled wagons in Sumerian civilization of Mesopotamia around 3700–3500 BCE
– Wheeled vehicles in Northern Caucasus and Eastern Europe in 4th millennium BCE
– Bronze Age cultures in Europe had evidence of wheeled vehicles by 3500–3350 BCE
– Neolithic European wheel and axle types known from c. 3200–3000 BCE
– Transmission in powered vehicles exerts force on the axle for rotation

**Significance and Application of the Wheel and Axle**:
– Wheel and axle system has no friction or elasticity
– Power input must equal output in a wheel and axle system
– Mechanical advantage allows for multiplication of force or distance
– System of wheels and axles can be compared to a compound lever
– Friction between wheel and road in vehicles affects mechanical advantage

**Educational and Literary References**:
– Mentioned in ‘A History of Mechanical Inventions’ and ‘The World Book Encyclopedia’
– Works by Edward L. Prater, Bureau of Naval Personnel, J. J. Uicker et al., and Edward Albert Bowser
– Involvement in naval education and training professional development
– Literature citations from various publications like Courier Dover Publications and Oxford University Press
– Application in basic machine understanding, mechanisms theory, and practical examples of working machines