Choices! What will it be? #29||Wheelbarrow

How can so many memories be attached to one item most people might consider insignificant? An item so relatable to both kids and adults and a tool we use in our daily lives. A machine that helps us simplify the most complex of tasks with minimal effort. Yes, I'm taking about the Wheelbarrow.

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Source

Wheelbarrow

The Wheelbarrow is a very good example of a machine. In Physics textbooks as well as basic science textbooks, the images of a wheelbarrow is usually used to explain the concept of a machine due to how relatable it is.

_{image from my 'New School Physics" textbook}

The wheelbarrow is made up of 3 key parts
1. Effort: this refers to the handle, where you apply the minimal effort to move
2. Load: this is the part that carries the weight of the load
3. Fulcrum/Pivot: this is the part that allows movement; in this case, it's the wheel.

Each of these parts help to define "Wheelbarrow" as a machine, since it requires lesser effort to move heavier load across a distance. This was how I learned about machines.

Applications in our daily lives

I wrote that using this "machine" is very relatable to many of us, so why not share some of their applications as they appears to me?

"Let's play wheelbarrow"

Playing with a wheelbarrow was a fun thing to do when I was younger, we would often sneak into our neighbors farm yard to "borrow" one of his Wheelbarrows. One of us would volunteer to push while the other would just sit in it and simply enjoy the ride. I preferred to play the role of the driver while my younger brother would play the passenger. Those were fun times, unless of course we were caught and punished but unfortunately it didn't deter us in any way from attempting to play Wheelbarrow again. Did you play with wheelbarrow as a kid? If you did, then you definitely had a fun time with it.

"Pack the grass with wheelbarrow"

Back in highschool, a day was assigned as "Labor day" where every student would come out in masses and assigned duties to clean the school and hostel premises. This task was carried out every "Wednesday" and as such I never did like that day of the week. My best part of the exercise was when I would be assigned to dispose the dirt with the wheelbarrow, you would never find me complaining after all, it was better than weeding. The wheelbarrow served as a means to dispose mass quantity of dirt in lesser trips, especially if they are too heavy to carry by hand or too much to dispose in one go.

"Move the bags of cement"

I recall a particular day while I was working on a construction project. The engineer asked me to supervise the people supplying the bags of cement and to ask one of the unskilled labor to bring about 10 bags to where he needed it.
I noticed the difficult in taking the bags one after the other so I offered them the idea to use the Wheelbarrow instead and this made the task less difficult and time saving since they could carry at least 3 bags in a single trip.

"Bring the compost manure"

Before I moved from my first place of residence, we used to live close to a garden. The Gardner's son and I were close friends which meant I would often visit that garde on weekends when I was around. We would often use the wheelbarrow to move the compost to the nursery as well as moving plants away from the nursery once they are strong enough to survive.

"How was the harvest?"

I sometimes follow my aunt to the farm to harvest cassava. Cassava is a root crop which after processing makes a good portion of our food produce, most importantly "garri - fried cassava". It was easier to load the root crop in the wheelbarrow as we dug them out from each point and then transport them in bulk quantities for processing. Since I love food, I always want to be part of the process.

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I'm inviting @bisolami and @adunni, two of my amazing female friends to also participate in this contest organized by @patjewell