Dining with Wedges

Wedges are good for a lot more jobs than splitting wood. We use them to separate all sorts of things. Like food! In fact, you likely use several wedges every time you eat.

Take a close look at a fork, for instance. See how each tine starts outwider and narrows toward the end? Each tine is a wedge.

Now, think about what happens when you stick a fork into food, like a piece of broccoli. You use effort to apply a downward force to the fork as you push it into the broccoli. Each tine directs that force outward, which separates the broccoli and lets the fork go deeper.

Once the fork is in the broccoli, friction between it and each tine holds the fork snugly in place. Then you can cut off a piece with another wedge―a knife.

A knife is sharp because the blade narrows, or gets thinner, from the top to the bottom. The entire blade is a narrow wedge that lets you slice broccoli―or chicken or green beans―easily.

After you lift the food to your mouth, your own personal wedges take over―your teeth. Your front teeth act as wedges that further separate the food into small pieces. The teeth along the sides have high points that are also small wedges. By chewing with these wedges, your food is soon small enough to swallow. Look in a mirror and check it out for yourself.

Now that you’ve eaten your veggies, how about dessert? How about a scoop of ice cream? You’ll want to eat it with a spoon, of course. That’s because all around the bowl of the spoon, the edge is a wedge. So, you can easily cut through this frozen delight to enjoy every bite.