Examples of Compound Machines.

• A tortilla press is a combination of two levers. The part that flattens the tortilla is a second class lever because the load (the tortilla) is in between the fulcrum (the hinge) and the effort (the outer edge of the top plate). On top of that lever, there’s another second class lever. The distance between the fulcrum (the hinge) and the load (the contact point between the arm and the top plate) is small and the lever is long, which creates a very large mechanical advantage. The total mechanical advantage is the product of the mechanical advantage of each part.
• A pair of scissors is a common example of a compound machine. The blades of the scissors are each a separate wedge, and the pivot point and handles form two opposing first class levers. From this, we can see that scissors with short handles will have less cutting power than scissors with long handles. In fact,
• Bolt cutters are not just a large pair of scissors. You would not get enough of a mechanical advantage from that. If you look closely at the operation of a pair of bolt cutters, you’ll see that there are two levers. So in addition to the initial mechanical advantage of having long arms, there’s an additional mechanism that greatly multiplies the force.