Unit of Mechanical Advantage of a machine?

Thread starter Aladin
Start date Sep 27, 2006
Tags

Machine Mechanical Mechanical advantage Unit

AI Thread Summary

The mechanical advantage (M.A) of a simple machine is expressed as the ratio of load to effort, calculated as M.A = Load/Effort. This ratio has no units because it involves dividing one force by another, resulting in a dimensionless number. Since both load and effort are measured in the same units, they cancel each other out. Therefore, mechanical advantage is fundamentally a comparison of similar quantities. Understanding this concept is essential for analyzing the efficiency of simple machines.

Sep 27, 2006

Aladin

Why the mechanical advantage of a simple machine has no units?
M.A=Load/Effort.
thank you.

Physics news on Phys.org

Sep 27, 2006

Andrew Mason

Science Advisor

Homework Helper

Aladin said:

Why the mechanical advantage of a simple machine has no units?
M.A=Load/Effort.
thank you.

Because you are dividing a force by a force. It is simply a dimensionless number.

AM

Sep 27, 2006

Doc Al

Mentor

It's a ratio of similar quantities. The units cancel.

Thread 'Is calling fictitious forces "not real" just about terminology?'

Hi there, im studying nanoscience at the university in Basel. Today I looked at the topic of intertial and non-inertial reference frames and the existence of fictitious forces. I understand that you call forces real in physics if they appear in interplay. Meaning that a force is real when there is the "actio" partner to the "reactio" partner. If this condition is not satisfied the force is not real. I also understand that if you specifically look at non-inertial reference frames you can...

View full post »

Thread 'Derivation of Hamilton's Principle: Questions'

I have recently been really interested in the derivation of Hamiltons Principle. On my research I found that with the term ##m \cdot \frac{d}{dt} (\frac{dr}{dt} \cdot \delta r) = 0## (1) one may derivate ##\delta \int (T - V) dt = 0## (2). The derivation itself I understood quiet good, but what I don't understand is where the equation (1) came from, because in my research it was just given and not derived from anywhere. Does anybody know where (1) comes from or why from it the...

View full post »