Well, here I am again! Just as I promised you I would be, talking about (ugh) Wheels. Crackling cicerones, wheels are something that I know absolutely nothing about since I don't own and have never used any to go from one place to the other. Still, if you insist, I can recite what I've learned about them from slithering around under cars and listening to two of my crony mechanics.

Wheels are these round, circular, one dimensional frame things or disks, see, constructed to revolve on a central axis and constituting an integral feature of most ground conveyances. Man's earliest known wheels were constructed in ancient Mesopotamia and they date from about 3500 to 3000 BC. Wheeled vehicles are believed to have appeared after the invention of the potter's wheel, and the wheeled cart soon replaced the sledge as a means of transportation. In its simplest form, the wheel was a solid wooden disk mounted on a round axle, to which it was secured by wooden pins. Eventually sections were carved out of the disk to reduce the weight, and radial spokes were devised about 2000 BC. The invention of the wheel was a major turning point in the advance of human civilization. The wheel led to more efficient use of animal power (Boy, leave it to you guys to take advantage!) for agriculture and other work. It became an invaluable mechanical means for controlling the flow and direction of power or force. The applications of the wheel in modern life and technology are virtually infinite -- way too infinite for me to illustrate here.

At this point, I think you get the idea. It's a round thing that 'round and 'round and 'round and has no end and that's why it's an infinite thing! Like a rolling pin, a car's wheels roll and roll and take you places while you rest steering them. No wiggling like us guys!

Wheel and Axle - An Example

And like a rolling pin, wheels mounted on axles are another kind of lever. When a lever rotates, it can pry things loose, among other things. If the lever is attached a round disc, and the lever rotates, the wheel rotates, moving the whole contraption. If you place something on the axle, the whole thing will move.

Not like me, who is doomed to wiggle and slither my way from one place to the other, a wheel takes advantage of Newton's third law: The action is the wheel turning and the reaction is the ground pushing it forward.

Hmm, maybe in my next life I'll come back with nine sets of wheels! Will that make me an Eighteen Wheeler? Anyway, I'm outta here!