what is the word for a complicated mechanical device that performs a simple function ?
459246
Well, generically, you would call it a machine or an engine or a contraption, but if you are talking about a specific function then you'll need to specify more details.
964775
electropneumatic circuit \n\nhttp://www.festo-didactic.com/ov3/media/customers/1100/0000607001156324537.pdf\n\n:>peace
825450
A screw is one of the six simple machines. A simple screw is a helical inclined plane. A screw can convert a rotational force (torque) to a linear force and vice versa. The ratio of threading determines the mechanical advantage of the machine.
458035
my jigsaw has a framulator. Do your own homework.\nMIKE
612892
mechanical, typical, cyclical, rhetorical, unusual
267761
Technology that is very, very, very small. Working things that are so small you can't see them with your plain eye.
572134
"Computer software (or simply software) refers to any of the various programs by which a computer controls aspects of its operations, such as those for translating data from one form to another, as contrasted with hardware, which is the physical equipment comprising the installation. The term is roughly synonymous with computer program but is more generic in scope. In most computers, the moment-to-moment control of the machine resides in a special software program called an operating system, or supervisor. "
418412
cy·clom·e·ter (sī-klŏm'ĭ-tər) \nn.\nAn instrument that records the revolutions of a wheel to indicate distance traveled.\nAn instrument that measures circular arcs.\n\nGoniometer \nAn instrument used for measuring geometric angles. See radio direction-finder. \n\n**please check the internet for more information** :)
939784
A tuning Fork...Is something that vibrates when you hit it.It's used to analyze sound frequencies and variations.\nA Spectrometer...Is used to analyze light under different angles\nA Potentiometer...Is a piece of equipment that would allow you to calculate the potential of a battery connected to it...\nA magnetometer....Is an instrument used to measure the strength and/or direction of the magnetic field in the vicinity of the instrument....\nA lens...is a device that causes light to either converge and concentrate or to diverge...\nA thermometer is an instrument used to measure temperature or temperature gradient...
1096821
Multi-Function Peripheral. Hardware that combines several functions in a single unit, such as a combined fax
320888
Poppet valve would be your likely answer.\n\nCheck valve is also acceptable.
1028903
how about a gyroscope?
763829
I'm not familiar with that particular book, but the differential equations of simple harmonic motion are interesting.  You can make the system as complex as you like.  I've studied SHM in both maths and physics.  I simulated SH oscillators with operational amplifiers; in other words an analogue computer.  First you simulate a frictionless pendulum, then you introduce friction so the oscillations die away, then you introduce forcing terms of various frequencies to see what happens; like pushing a child on a swing.  If you're really clever, you can introduce hysteresis (delay), and extra degrees of freedom (flexible joints in the pendulum), and vary the Q of the system (how sharply you can tune it to the resonant frequency).  It's about the most open-ended project I ever saw.  I did it in second-year physics.  At its simplest, it's just sixth form maths, but you can turn it into an impossibly complex exercise in chaotic systems if you're clever.
77300
A branch of science and engineering devoted to the design and production of extremely small electronic devices and circuits built from individual atoms and molecules. Computers will be more powerful by a factor of about 1,000,000,000. We can't predict what they will be used for; who could have predicted desktop computers and the World Wide Web back in 1950? But human-class artificial intelligence becomes a lot easier when your desktop computer has the raw power to simulate every neuron in a human brain.
720091
Dictionary.com defines a robot as:\n\n1) A mechanical device that sometimes resembles a human and is capable of performing a variety of often complex human tasks on command or by being programmed in advance.\n2) A machine or device that operates automatically or by remote control.\n\nI believe that though it is not entirelly specified in the latter of the two definitions, a robot much be mechanical - it must have movement. Computers are used with and in robots, but computers themselves are not robots.
282311
a lever, a wheel, a pulley...
1030003
1 I don't know sorry :&#92;\n\nand 2 its simple. an electromagnet!