Name: Period: Date:

Foundations of Technology
Unit 4 Syatems Engineering and Technology Learning cycle 3: Simple Machines
File 4.3.3: Mechanical Advantage Review Due Date 4/4/2022 no credit date 4/6/2022
Due date 4/18/2023 no credit date 5/13/2023 Submit to canvas.

Mechanical Advantage Review

Directions: Use the appropriate equation to answer the following questions. All answers should be recorded below
or in your engineering design journal. Remember to show all work.

1. A lever has an effort arm that is 8 meters long and the

resistance (load) arm that is
1.5 meters long, how much effort is needed to lift a 200
Newton weight?

2. Two boys want to balance a seesaw perfectly. One boy

weighs 120 pounds and is sitting four feet from the
fulcrum. The other boy weighs 80 pounds. Where
should the lighter boy sit to balance the seesaw?

3. You wish to lift a 12,000 lb stone by a vertical distance of 15 ft.

Unfortunately, you can only generate a maximum pushing
force of 2,000 lb.

a. What is the amount of work you must input

in order to move the stone?

b. What is the actual mechanical advantage (AMA) required by a machine to complete the work above?
 c. You build a ramp to create the ideal mechanical advantage. What is the length of the ramp in feet?

4. You wish to lift a 400 lb car engine a vertical distance of 3 ft

using a strong rope. Unfortunately, your hand crank winch
can only generate 100 lb of tension in your rope. In order to
overcome this obstacle, you use a multiple pulley system
(block and tackle) to lift the engine.

a. What is the mechanical advantage of this system?

b. What length of rope is required to complete the work?

5. A wheel is used to turn a valve stem on a water valve.

The wheel radius is 4 inches and the axle radius is .25
inches.

a. What is the mechanical advantage of the wheel and

axle?

b. How much resistance force can be overcome when an effort of 6 lbs is applied to the
wheel of the water valve in this problem?
6. A mechanic uses a screw driver with a handle diameter of 1.5” to install a ¼-20 UNC bolt into a mechanical
brace. What is the mechanical advantage of the system? What is the resistance force if the effort force is 5
lb.?

7. Find the Mechanical Advantage and the maximum separation

load for a wedge (length = 6 inches and height = 3 inches)
used to split a piece of wood. The effort load applied is 80 lb.