Where else can you find wedges? Let’s find out. Look in a toolbox. Nails are wedges. So are thumbtacks and pushpins. Lots of garden tools are made of wedges. The blades of shovels and hoes are wedges.

Here’s another example. Snowplows are wedges. They scrape snow off roads. The blade of the plow reaches under the snow to lift it off the road.

Some wedges are hidden, like in a zipper! When you pull up on the zipper, small wedges inside the slider push the teeth together. When you pull down, another wedge separates the teeth, like a tiny axe splitting wood.

So far, most of the wedges you have read about cut through solid things, like wood, soil, and food.

But wedges can cut through liquids, too. Look at the front of a boat. The wedge shape lets the boat slice through the water with ease.

Now you know a lot about wedges. Think about some ways you might use this simple machine.