Question

The mechanical advantage of a machine is \[5\]. How much load can it exert for the effort of \[2\]\[kgf\]?

Answer 1

Hint: Mechanical advantage of a machine is the ratio of the output force to the input force. It can also be defined as the ratio between the force exerted by the system and the force applied to the system. The output force or the force exerted by the system is the load in the question and the input force or the force applied to the system is mentioned as effort. Using these relations the value of force exerted by the system that is the load can be computed.

Formula used: $\text{Mechanical advantage}= \dfrac{\text{load}}{\text{effort}}$

Complete step-by-step solution:
The values that have been given to us are;
Mechanical advantage=\[5\]
and Effort = \[2kgf\]
The value of load must be determined;
To find the load, we must multiply mechanical advantage and effort
Therefore by using formula, $\text{Mechanical advantage}= \dfrac{\text{load}}{\text{effort}}$
Rearranging the given equation,
We get, Load= Mechanical advantage x Effort
Substituting the given values from the question,
We get, Load= \[(5 \times 2)kgf\]\[ = 10kgf\]
Therefore from the solution, we get the load value to be equal to \[10kgf\]

Note: Since mechanical advantage is the ratio of two forces, it is a dimensionless quantity. That is it is a unit of less quantity. Machines can have a mechanical advantage greater than one but a machine can't do more mechanical work than the work that was applied to the machine. The higher the value of mechanical advantage, the higher will be the output of the machine. The more the output value, the more efficient the system will be.