Question

What is the mechanical advantage of the lever if you hold on to the end of the long side and lift something that's placed on the short side?

Answer 1

Answer:

$MA=\frac{F_l}{F_e}>1$

Explanation:

The mechanical advantage with a shorter lever will always be greater than 1.

It is so because with a longer effort arm we need to apply lesser force to lift a unit mass which is at a shorter distance from the fulcrum. This is in accordance with the conservation of moments.

$F_e\times d_e=F_l\times d_l$

where:

$F_e=$ force on the effort arm

$F_l=$ force on the load arm

$d_e\ \&\ d_l$ are the lengths of load effort arm and load arm respectively.

So, one factor balances the other keeping the product of the two constant.

And we know that mechanical advantage is :

$MA=\frac{F_l}{F_e}$