Lesson: Mechanical Advantage of Machines Physics

Students will be able to

• recall that the mechanical advantage of a machine is the ratio of the force applied by the machine (the output force) to the force applied to the machine (the input force),
• determine the mechanical advantage provided by a system of pulleys by considering the ratio of the number of sources of tension applying an output force to the number of sources of tension applying an input force,
• determine the mechanical advantage provided by a system of gears by considering the ratio of the radii of gear wheels applying output forces and input forces.