A wheel is used to turn a valve stem on a water valve. How much is the mechanical advantage when an effort of 80 lbs. is applied to the wheel of the water valve to overcome a force of 320 lbs.?

4

Explanation:

From the question given above, the following data were obtained:

Effort (E) = 80 lbs

Load (L) = 320 lbs

Mechanical advantage (MA) =?

Mechanical advantage is simply defined as the ratio of load to effort. Mathematically, it is expressed as:

Mechanical advantage = Load / Effort

MA = L / E

With the above formula, we can obtain the mechanical advantage as illustrated below:

Effort (E) = 80 lbs

Load (L) = 320 lbs

Mechanical advantage (MA) =?

MA = L / E

MA = 320 / 80

MA = 4

Thus, the mechanical advantage is 4

force tends to be low and long diustance masses are high