TechnologyThe ProfessorBeginner
Mechanical Engineering in Everyday Objects, a free technology course on Tomo

Mechanical Engineering in Everyday Objects

Decode the physical mechanisms hidden inside tools, vehicles, and household gadgets. Learn the core vocabulary of forces, motion, and materials so you can see how the built world actually works.

Like Duolingo, but for Mechanical Engineering in Everyday Objects. 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 Translating Motion and Force and How Structures Hold and Fail. It starts from scratch.

12 bite-size levelsAbout 5 minutes each

Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android

Manny the Mammoth, the guide who teaches the Mechanical Engineering in Everyday Objects course
Mechanical Engineering in Everyday Objects
with Manny the Mammoth
12
Levels
2
Sections
5
Min/day
What you'll learn

Key ideas in Mechanical Engineering in Everyday Objects

  • A lever cannot create energy; it trades distance for force
  • Pushing over a longer distance allows a small effort to lift a heavy weight over a small distance
  • Moving the effort handle a long way produces high lifting force
  • Placing the pivot close to the load gives high mechanical advantage, multiplying force
  • Placing the pivot far from the working tip multiplies speed and reach while requiring more effort force
  • The ratio of distances from the pivot determines whether a tool boosts power or reach
  • Linkages consist of rigid bodies joined by moving hinges or pivots
  • Linkages convert one kind of motion, like a straight push, into a different path, like an arc or corner turn
  • Connecting bars can redirect motion anywhere across a machine frame
  • Degrees of freedom are the independent ways a part can slide or rotate
  • A dependable mechanism locks down every possible movement except the single intended working path
  • Unconstrained motion causes parts to wobble, jam, or drift off track
  • Toggle mechanisms align connected links past an in-line center point
  • Once past center, external loads push the joint against a mechanical stop instead of collapsing it
  • Locking pliers and folding furniture braces hold heavy clamping or structural loads without ongoing grip
  • Torque is rotational force, calculated as the force applied multiplied by the distance from the pivot
Why not just Google it

You've tried the other tabs

Wikipedia

Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.

YouTube

You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.

ChatGPT

One answer, then back to scrolling.

Online courses

Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.

Tomo gives Mechanical Engineering in Everyday Objects 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.

Try a question

Here's what playing it feels like

A real question from this course. Take your best guess.

Trading Distance for Lifting Power

When you use a long crowbar to pry up a rock, what trade-off are you making?

Get it right to open this lesson and 11 more in the app.

Course map

How to learn Mechanical Engineering in Everyday Objects, step by step

Go in order. 12 short levels across 2 sections, about 24 minutes in all, five minutes a day.

  1. 1

    Translating Motion and Force

    • Everyday Levers and Linkages
    • Gears, Belts, and Torque
  2. 2

    How Structures Hold and Fail

    • Tension, Compression, and Shear
    • Tolerances, Friction, and Fatigue

2 sections · 4 units · 12 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.

Questions

Questions about Mechanical Engineering in Everyday Objects

  1. How do I learn Mechanical Engineering in Everyday Objects?

    Go in order: start with Translating Motion and Force, then How Structures Hold and Fail. On Tomo that's 12 short levels, about 24 minutes in all, played five minutes a day. Start free and play the first level in under a minute.

  2. Is there a Duolingo-style app for Mechanical Engineering in Everyday Objects?

    Yes. Tomo works like Duolingo: short daily lessons, streaks and quick quizzes. Mechanical Engineering in Everyday Objects is one of its free courses, and you can type any other topic to get a course of your own.

  3. Is the Mechanical Engineering in Everyday Objects course free?

    Yes. Mechanical Engineering in Everyday Objects is playable on Tomo's free plan, which doesn't expire. No credit card, no waitlist. Download the app and start your first lesson.

  4. How long does it take to learn Mechanical Engineering in Everyday Objects?

    12 levels across 2 sections, about 24 minutes of play in total. It's built for five minutes a day, so you finish it a little at a time instead of all at once.

  5. Do I need any background to start Mechanical Engineering in Everyday Objects?

    No. It's pitched at a beginner level, so it starts where you are and builds up. If you can tap a phone, you can start.

New

Tomo is in ChatGPT

Tomo is also a ChatGPT plugin: the same playable courses, built and played inside your chat.

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How it's taught

You pick the voice

This course
The Professor

Mechanical Engineering in Everyday Objects 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.

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Start Mechanical Engineering in Everyday Objects today.

Download Tomo, search Mechanical Engineering in Everyday Objects, and play your first lesson in under a minute.