Question

What is the IMA of a lever whose resistance arm is 5 cm long if the effort arm is 0.5 m long and the load is 9.20 N?

a)0.1
b)0.9 N
c)10
d)90 N

Answer 1

The Ideal Mechanical Advantage (IMA) of a lever is the ratio between the length of the effort arm and the length of the resistance (load) arm:

`IMA=(L_e)/(L_r)=(50)/(5)=10`

Correct answer c) 10

Notice that I've transformed the effort arm from 0.5 meters in 50 cm, to match the unit with the resistance arm.