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Simple machines make work easier by changing the amount of force required rather than the total work done. They do this using mechanical advantage to multiply the effort force. The ideal mechanical advantage of a simple machine equals the length of the effort arm divided by the length of the resistance arm. While reducing the effort force, the distance over which it is applied is increased. The work input always equals the work output due to conservation of energy.

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20 views2 pages

Section Key Terms

Simple machines make work easier by changing the amount of force required rather than the total work done. They do this using mechanical advantage to multiply the effort force. The ideal mechanical advantage of a simple machine equals the length of the effort arm divided by the length of the resistance arm. While reducing the effort force, the distance over which it is applied is increased. The work input always equals the work output due to conservation of energy.

Uploaded by

Sherilyn Apostol
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Section Key Terms

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Simple Machines
Simple machines make work easier, but they do not decrease the amount of work you have to
do. Why can’t simple machines change the amount of work that you do? Recall that in closed
systems the total amount of energy is conserved. A machine cannot increase the amount of
energy you put into it. So, why is a simple machine useful? Although it cannot change the
amount of work you do, a simple machine can change the amount of force you must apply to an
object, and the distance over which you apply the force. In most cases, a simple machine is used
to reduce the amount of force you must exert to do work. The down side is that you must exert
the force over a greater distance, because the product of force and distance, fd, (which equals
work) does not change.

Let’s examine how this works in practice. In Figure 9.7(a), the worker uses a type of lever to
exert a small force over a large distance, while the pry bar pulls up on the nail with a large force
over a small distance. Figure 9.7(b) shows the how a lever works mathematically. The effort
force, applied at Fe, lifts the load (the resistance force) which is pushing down at Fr. The
triangular pivot is called the fulcrum; the part of the lever between the fulcrum and Fe is the
effort arm, Le; and the part to the left is the resistance arm, Lr. The mechanical advantage is a
number that tells us how many times a simple machine multiplies the effort force. The ideal
mechanical advantage, IMA, is the mechanical advantage of a perfect machine with no loss of
useful work caused by friction between moving parts. The equation for IMA is shown in Figure
9.7(b).

Figure 9.7 (a) A pry bar is a type of lever. (b) The ideal mechanical advantage equals the length
of the effort arm divided by the length of the resistance arm of a lever.
In general, the IMA = the resistance force, Fr, divided by the effort force, Fe. IMA also equals the
distance over which the effort is applied, de, divided by the distance the load travels, dr.

IMA=FrFe=dedr���=����=����

Getting back to conservation of energy, for any simple machine, the work put into the
machine, Wi, equals the work the machine puts out, Wo. Combining this with the information in
the paragraphs above, we can write

Wi=WoFede=FrdrIf Fe<Fr, then de>dr.��=������=����If ��<��, t


hen ��>��.

The equations show how a simple machine can output the same amount of work while reducing
the amount of effort force by increasing the distance over which the effort force is applied.

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