Everyday Mechanics
Understand the physical rules that govern how tools multiply strength, why objects move the way they do, and how machines redirect force. Learn to read the trade-offs of levers, gears, momentum, and balance in the physical world around you.
Like Duolingo, but for Everyday Mechanics. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
A short one: 12 levels across 2 sections, about 24 minutes end to end, roughly 5 days at five minutes a day. It moves through Multiplying Your Force and Predicting Motion and Impact. It starts from scratch.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in Everyday Mechanics
- Reducing the effort force required to move a load requires applying that force over a greater distance
- If a tool cuts the effort needed in half, the hands must travel double the distance the load moves
- Mechanical advantage never reduces total work; it trades force for distance
- A lever multiplies force according to the ratio of distances from the pivot point
- Doubling your distance from the pivot doubles the turning force you apply to the other side
- A lighter person can balance a heavier person by moving farther away from the pivot
- An inclined plane spreads the vertical lift over a longer horizontal distance
- A longer, gentler slope reduces the pushing force needed to lift a heavy load
- A steeper ramp shortens the path but demands far more muscle force
- Torque is turning force, calculated by multiplying applied force by the distance from the turning center
- A longer handle increases the distance from the bolt, multiplying turning power without extra arm force
- No simple machine can reduce the total work or energy needed to lift an object to a given height
- Machines repackage work by trading smaller applied force for a longer pulling distance
- Energy cannot be created from nothing by mechanical tools
- A movable pulley divides the total weight among the rope strands supporting the load
- With two supporting strands, you only pull with half the weight of the object
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives Everyday Mechanics the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
A crowbar lets you lift a boulder with half as much effort. How far do your hands travel compared to the boulder?
Get it right to open this lesson and 11 more in the app.
Where Everyday Mechanics takes you
- 1
Multiplying Your Force
- Levers, Ramps, and Torque
- Pulleys, Gears, and Friction
- 2
Predicting Motion and Impact
- Inertia, Momentum, and Collisions
- Balance, Springs, and Energy Transfer
2 sections · 4 units · 12 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
Tomo is in ChatGPT
Tomo is also a ChatGPT plugin: the same playable courses, built and played inside your chat.
Add Tomo to ChatGPT- What to ask
- “Make me a Tomo course on black holes.” “Turn this chat into a Tomo course.”
- What you get
- Quick questions with instant feedback, hearts and stars, ready to play in about a minute.
- Where it goes
- No sign-up to start. Connect your Tomo account and your streak carries on in the app.
You pick the voice
Everyday Mechanics is taught in the Professor style: clear, structured, thorough. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
More Science on Tomo
Physics: How the World Moves
Make sense of the invisible rules governing everyday motion, impacts, and forces. Learn to see how inertia, gravity, and energy dictate why cars slide, roller coasters loop, and collisions happen the way they do.
The Rules of the Physical World
Discover the invisible forces that govern everything from your morning walk to the stars above. Learn to see the world through the lens of motion, energy, and gravity.
Everyday Physics of Motion
Decode the invisible forces behind how objects move, fall, and collide in daily life. Learn why you lurch forward when a bus stops, how crumple zones save lives, and why everything falls at the same speed.
Everyday Physics in Motion
Understand the hidden physical forces that shape your daily routine, from driving on wet roads to lifting heavy boxes safely. Learn how momentum, leverage, heat transfer, and impact absorption dictate how the objects around you work. Walk away with practical intuition to predict motion, use tools efficiently, and solve common physical problems.
Physics of Motion and Energy
Move beyond plug-and-chug formulas to analyze the hidden budgets of the physical world. Learn how momentum, rotational inertia, energy landscapes, and entropy govern everything from vehicle collisions to orbital mechanics.
Physics in Motion and Energy
Bridge the gap between basic concepts and quantitative physics. Calculate trajectories, balance forces, analyze collisions, and explore how energy shapes circuits, waves, and engines.
Start Everyday Mechanics today.
Download Tomo, search Everyday Mechanics, and play your first lesson in under a minute.