A science project requires students to adjust a first-class lever to lift a heavy object with the least amount of effort force. Which adjustment will give them the greatest mechanical advantage?
Maximizing the Length of the effort arm while keeping the load arm long
In a first-class lever the fulcrum lies between the effort and the load.
Mechanical advantage (MA) \(= \frac{\text{effort arm}}{\text{load arm}}\). The larger this ratio, the less effort is needed to lift the load.
So the adjustment that raises MA is lengthening the effort arm: for a given load arm, the longer the effort arm, the greater the MA. Maximizing the effort arm length is therefore the adjustment that gives the greatest mechanical advantage among the choices.
Minimizing the effort arm reduces the numerator of the ratio, so MA falls and more effort is needed.
Positioning the load as far from the fulcrum as possible lengthens the load arm, which reduces MA.
Placing the fulcrum exactly at the centre makes both arms equal, so MA = 1 – no force advantage at all.
Hence, the answer is Maximizing the Length of the effort arm while keeping the load arm long.
Similar Questions
A hockey puck of mass 0.5 kg slides across ice with an initial velocity of 8 m/s. If a player applies a constant force for 0.5 s and the puck’s velocity increases to 12 m/s, what is the magnitude of the applied force?
If a person stands close to a wall and pushes the wall with his hands, which of the following is a correct statement regarding the force exerted by the wall on the person?
A cart of mass 6 kg is acted upon by a forward force of 8 N and a backward force of 5 N simultaneously. What is the magnitude of its net acceleration?
When you're standing in a bus and it suddenly starts moving forward, you tend to fall backward. What is the reason for this?
A swimmer pushes water backward with her hands during a stroke and moves forward. If the swimmer applies a force of 60 N on the water, what is the force exerted by the water on the swimmer?
A block P is placed on a larger block Q, which is initially at rest on a smooth horizontal surface. Block Q is suddenly pulled horizontally, causing P to slip backward relative to Q. Which of the following statements best explains this observation?
A stationary box remains unmoved on the floor even when equal forces are applied from opposite sides. Which feature of the forces best explains this outcome?
If the acceleration of an object doubles while the mass of the object remains constant, what happens to the force required?
A student pushes a 4 kg cart so that its velocity changes from 2 m/s to 6 m/s in 2 seconds. What is the magnitude of the force applied on the cart?
When two bodies of different masses are accelerated at the same rate, what can be inferred about the forces acting on them according to Newton's second law?
Important Questions from Forces
- What is the direction of frictional force?
A piece of stone tied to a string is made to revolve in a circular orbit of radius $r$ with other end of the string as the centre. If the string breaks, the stone will:
- If the linear momentum of a moving object changes by two times, then its kinetic energy will change by a factor of
- Which one of the following statements with regard to Newton's third law of motion is NOT correct?
- A snowboard pulled up by a tow rope travels at the rate of 5 m/s up a mountain. If 3000 watt of power is used, what force was applied to it?
