Lever

A lever is a simple machine made of a rigid beam or rod that pivots on a fixed point called a fulcrum, letting a smaller force applied at one end produce a larger force at the other. Early uses appear in ancient Egypt by around 5000 BC in balance scales and in Mesopotamia by around 3000 BC in the shadoof water lifting crane, and the Greek mathematician Archimedes described the mathematical principles behind the lever in the third century BC. The lever is one of the six classical simple machines identified during the Renaissance and remains a foundational concept in mechanical engineering and physics.