How Do You Use Pulleys To Gain Mechanical Advantage?
Mechanical advantage is the ratio of output force of a machine to the input force. If the output force is greater, the mechanical advantage measures the reduction in force required to do work. For pulleys, the tradeoff for this advantage is having to apply the smaller force for a longer length of line or rope. For example, a mechanical advantage of 2:1 means that the puller exerts half the force she would have had to exert without using a pulley system, but must pull twice the length of line to move the load the same distance as before. Attach a pulley to the load that is to be lifted. The pulley should still be able to spin freely and support the weight of the load by a line passed through it. Attach another pulley to a support positioned above the load. The more vertically aligned the two pulleys, the more efficient the system will be. In other words, force won’t be wasted on lateral pulling. Thread the line, rope or chain over the top pulley (so that the line fits into the pulley’s
