Solving Lever Mechanics: Find Ideal Mechanical Advantage

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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around a lever mechanics problem where the original poster seeks to determine the Ideal Mechanical Advantage (IMA) given specific measurements of effort and resistance arms, along with a force applied.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Assumption checking

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants discuss the formula for calculating IMA as the ratio of the lengths of the effort arm to the resistance arm. There is questioning regarding the relevance of the applied force (65 N) in the context of finding IMA.

Discussion Status

Multiple interpretations of the problem are being explored, particularly regarding the necessity of the force value in the calculation. Some participants suggest that the force may not be needed to find the IMA, while others reiterate the formula and its application.

Contextual Notes

There is mention of homework guidelines, indicating that participants are attempting to adhere to forum rules regarding posting in the appropriate sections for homework help.

billnyerocks
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Levers Please Help!

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?
 
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Sounds like a homework problem: the mechanical advantage is the ratio of the arm lengths. Calculate it (you need to figure out which goes on top) and tell us what you get.
 
The formula for the ideal mechanical advantage of a lever is Le divided by Lr (Lever effort over Lever resistance), which would make it 6 cm, but what is the 65 N for?
 
billnyerocks said:
The formula for the ideal mechanical advantage of a lever is Le divided by Lr (Lever effort over Lever resistance), which would make it 6 cm, but what is the 65 N for?

Some problems give you more information than you need to answer the question. The 65 N is information you do not need to find the ideal mechanical advantage.
 
Sorry about the double post, but after I posted, I read something that said to post in the homework section for homework help. Trying to follow the rules, I posted there. I thought that you could delete a post, but you can't, so I got two posts.
 
billnyerocks said:
The formula for the ideal mechanical advantage of a lever is Le divided by Lr (Lever effort over Lever resistance), which would make it 6 cm, but what is the 65 N for?
Actually, its unitless - since cm/cm cancels to 1, the units disappear.
 

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