- #1
billnyerocks
- 5
- 0
A man uses 65 N to lift a box off the ground with a lever. The effort arm is 60 cm. The resistance arm is 10 cm. What is the Ideal Mechanical Advantage?
billnyerocks said:I know that the IMA of a lever is Le divided by Lr, which is Lever effort divided by lever resistance, so when you divide 60 cm by 10 cm, you get 6 cm. But what is the 65 N for?
Ideal Mechanical Advantage (IMA) is the ratio of the force needed to lift or move an object using a lever to the force applied to the lever. It is a measure of how much the lever amplifies the input force.
The formula for calculating IMA of a lever is IMA = Effort Arm Length/Resistance Arm Length. In this case, it would be 60/10 = 6. This means that for every 1N of force applied to the lever, the object will be lifted with a force of 6N.
The length of the lever arms directly affects the IMA. The longer the effort arm and the shorter the resistance arm, the greater the IMA will be. This is because a longer effort arm allows for a smaller input force to lift a larger load.
Yes, the IMA of a lever can definitely be greater than 1. In fact, the longer the effort arm and shorter the resistance arm, the greater the IMA will be. However, it is important to note that the IMA cannot be greater than the ratio of the effort arm length to the resistance arm length.
Friction can reduce the IMA of a lever by making it more difficult to move the object. This means that more force is needed to overcome the resistance and lift the object. However, if the lever is well lubricated, friction can be minimized and the IMA can be increased.