Question

What is mechanical advantage of a simple machine?

Answer 1

1. Mechanical advantage can be defined as the ratio of load to the effort.
2. It is also defined as an effort arm to load arm.
3. Mathematically, we can see that, $\mathrm{Mechanical}\mathrm{advantage}=\frac{\mathrm{load}}{\mathrm{effort}}=\frac{\mathrm{effort}\mathrm{arm}}{\mathrm{load}\mathrm{arm}}$
   1. If effort arm > load arm, M.A > 1, example - shears.
   2. If effort arm < load arm, M.A < 1, example - scissors.
   3. If effort arm = load arm, M.A = 1, example - physical beam balance