A machine is a tool used to make work easier.

Simple machines are simple

tools used to make work easier. Compound machines have two or more
simple machines working together to make work easier.
In science, work is defined as a force acting on an object to move it across
a distance. Pushing, pulling, and lifting are common forms of work.
Furniture movers do work when they move boxes. Gardeners do work
when they pull weeds. Children do work when they go up and down on a
see-saw. Machines make their work easier. The furniture movers use a
ramp to slide boxes into a truck. The gardeners use a hand shovel to help
break through the weeds. The children use a see-saw to go up and down.
The ramp, the shovel, and the see-saw are simple machines.
A simple machine is a non-motorized device that changes the direction or
magnitude of a force. In general, a simple machine can be defined as one
of the simplest mechanisms that provide mechanical advantage (also
called leverage).
A simple machine is an elementary device that has a specific movement
(often called a mechanism), which can be combined with other devices
and movements to form a machine. Thus simple machines are considered
to be the "building blocks" of more complicated machines.
Inclined Plane:

A plane is a flat surface. For example, a smooth board is a plane. Now, if

the plane is lying flat on the ground, it isn't likely to help you do work.
However, when that plane is inclined, or slanted, it can help you move
objects across distances. And, that's work! A common inclined plane is a
ramp. Lifting a heavy box onto a loading dock is much easier if you slide
the box up a ramp--a simple machine.
An inclined plane is a flat supporting surface tilted at an angle, with one
end higher than the other, used as an aid for raising or lowering a load.
Inclined planes are widely used to move heavy loads over vertical
obstacles; examples vary from a ramp used to load goods into a truck, to a
person walking up a pedestrian ramp, to an automobile or railroad train
climbing a grade.
Moving an object up an inclined plane requires less force than lifting it
straight up, at a cost of an increase in the distance moved. The mechanical
advantage of an inclined plane, the factor by which the force is reduced, is
equal to the ratio of the length of the sloped surface to the height it spans.
Due to conservation of energy, the same amount of mechanical energy
(work) is required to lift a given object by a given vertical distance,
disregarding losses from friction, but the inclined plane allows the same
work to be done with a smaller force exerted over a greater distance.

Wedge:

Instead of using the smooth side of the inclined plane, you can also use the
pointed edges to do other kinds of work. For example, you can use the
edge to push things apart. Then, the inclined plane is a wedge. So, a wedge
is actually a kind of inclined plane. An axeblade is a wedge. Think of the
edge of the blade. It's the edge of a smooth slanted surface. That's a
wedge!
A wedge is a triangular shaped tool, a compound and portable inclined
plane.
It can be used to separate two objects or portions of an object, lift up an
object, or hold an object in place. It functions by converting a force
applied to its blunt end into forces perpendicular (normal) to its inclined
surfaces. The mechanical advantage of a wedge is given by the ratio of the
length of its slope to its width. Although a short wedge with a wide angle
may do a job faster, it requires more force than a long wedge with a
narrow angle.

Screw
Now, take an inclined plane and wrap it around a cylinder. Its sharp edge
becomes another simple tool: the screw. Put a metal screw beside a ramp
and it's kind of hard to see the similarities, but the screw is actually just
another kind of inclined plane. Try this demonstration to help you
visualize. How does the screw help you do work? Every turn of a metal
screw helps you move a piece of metal through a wooden space.
A screw is a mechanism that converts rotational motion to linear motion,
and a torque (rotational force) to a linear force.
The most common form consists of a cylindrical shaft with helical grooves
or ridges called threads around the outside. The screw passes through a
hole in another object or medium, with threads on the inside of the hole
that mesh with the screw's threads. When the shaft of the screw is rotated
relative to the stationary threads, the screw moves along its axis relative to
the medium surrounding it; for example rotating a wood screw forces it
into wood. In screw mechanisms, either the screw shaft can rotate through
a threaded hole in a stationary object, or a threaded collar such as a nut can
rotate around a stationary screw shaft.

Lever
Try pulling a really stubborn weed out of the ground. You know, a deep,
persistent weed that seems to have taken over your flowerbed. Using just
your bare hands, it might be difficult or even painful. With a tool, like a
hand shovel, however, you should win the battle. Any tool that pries
something loose is a lever. A lever is an arm that "pivots" (or turns)
against a "fulcrum" (or point). Think of the claw end of a hammer that you
use to pry nails loose. It's a lever. It's a curved arm that rests against a
point on a surface. As you rotate the curved arm, it pries the nail loose
from the surface. And that's hard work!
A lever is a machine consisting of a beam or rigid rod pivoted at a fixed
hinge, or fulcrum. The word comes from the French lever, "to raise", A
lever amplifies an input force to provide a greater output force, which is
said to provide leverage. The ratio of the output force to the input force is
the ideal mechanical advantage of the lever.

Wheel and Axle:

The rotation of the lever against a point pries objects loose. That rotation
motion can also do other kinds of work. Another kind of lever, the wheel
and axle, moves objects across distances. The wheel, the round end, turns
the axle, the cylindrical post, causing movement. On a wagon, for
example, the bucket rests on top of the axle. As the wheel rotates the axle,
the wagon moves. Now, place your pet dog in the bucket, and you can
easily move him around the yard. On a truck, for example, the cargo hold
rests on top of several axles. As the wheels rotate the axles, the truck
moves.
The wheel and axle is generally considered to be a wheel attached to an
axle so that these two parts rotate together in which a force is transferred
from one to the other. In this configuration a hinge, or bearing, supports
the rotation of the axle.
 A windlass, a well known application of the wheel and axle.
It consists of crank or pulley connected to a cylindrical barrel that
provides mechanical advantage to wind up a rope and lift a load such as a
bucket from a well.
The simple machine called a wheel and axle refers to the assembly formed
by two disks, or cylinders, of different diameters mounted so they rotate
together around the same axis. Forces applied to the edges of the two
disks, or cylinders, provide mechanical advantage. When used as the
wheel of a cart the smaller cylinder is the axle of the wheel, but when used
in a windlass, winch, and other similar applications (see medieval mining
lift to right) the smaller cylinder may be separate from the axle mounted in
the bearings. It cannot be used separately.

Pulley:

Instead of an axle, the wheel could also rotate a rope or cord. This
variation of the wheel and axle is the pulley. In a pulley, a cord wraps
around a wheel. As the wheel rotates, the cord moves in either direction.
Now, attach a hook to the cord, and you can use the wheel's rotation to
raise and lower objects. On a flagpole, for example, a rope is attached to a
pulley. On the rope, there are usually two hooks. The cord rotates around
the pulley and lowers the hooks where you can attach the flag. Then,
rotate the cord and the flag raises high on the pole.
If two or more simple machines work together as one, they form a
compound machine. Most of the machines we use today are compound
machines, created by combining several simple machines. Can you think
of creative ways to combine simple machines to make work easier? Think
about it.
A pulley is a wheel on an axle that is designed to support movement of a
cable or belt along its circumference. Pulleys are used in a variety of ways
to lift loads, apply forces, and to transmit power.
A pulley is also called a sheave or drum and may have a groove between
two flanges around its circumference. The drive element of a pulley
system can be a rope, cable, belt, or chain that runs over the pulley inside
the groove.
Pulleys are assembled to form a block and tackle in order to provide
mechanical advantage to apply large forces. Pulleys are also assembled as
part of belt and chain drives in order to transmit power from one rotating
shaft to another.