Question

A bicycle moves forward 4.0 m when the pedals are rotated through a distance of 1.0 m. What is the IMA (Ideal mechanical advantage) of this bicycle?

Answer 1

Answer:

IMA =  0.25

Explanation:

Given the following data;

Input distance = 1m

Output distance = 4m

To find the ideal mechanical advantage;

Mathematically, IMA is given by the formula;

$IMA = \frac {distance \; over \; which \; the \; effort \; is \; applied}{distance \; the \; load \; travels}$

NB: The ideal mechanical advantage has no units.

Substituting into the equation, we have;

$IMA = \frac {1}{4}$

IMA = 0.25

Therefore, the ideal mechanical advantage (IMA) of this bicycle is 0.25.