Question

Scissors and shears are levers of the first order,however the cutting edge of scissors used for cutting cloth is much longer than the cutting edge of shears used for cutting metals, explain the difference?

Answer 1

Dear Student,

In scissors the cutting edge called load arm is generally longer than the effort arm because the load such as cloth or paper required small amount of force for cutting as compared to the effort applied by the hands.

However, in case of shears used for cutting metal or wires, the cutting edge called load arm is kept small because the resistance of the metal (load) is very large. Thus, to overcome this resistance the effort arm is made longer. In this way both are different from each other.

Regards,