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A block and tackle is characterized by the use of a single continuous rope to transmit a tension force around one or more pulleys to lift or move a load. Its mechanical advantage is the number of parts of the rope that act on the load. The mechanical advantage of a tackle dictates how much easier it is to haul or lift the load.
The mechanical advantage of a pulley system can be analysed using free body diagrams which balance the tension force in the rope with the force of gravity on the load. In an ideal system, the massless and frictionless pulleys do not dissipate energy and allow for a change of direction of a rope that does not stretch or wear.
A rope looped through a pulley attached to a fixed spot, e.g. a barn roof rafter, and attached to the weight is called a single pulley. It has a mechanical advantage (MA) = 1 (assuming frictionless bearings in the pulley), moving no mechanical advantage (or disadvantage) however advantageous the change in direction may be.
The two sections of chain carrying the single pulley exert opposing and unequal torques on the connected pulleys, such that only the difference of these torques has to be compensated manually by pulling the loose part of the chain. This leads to a mechanical advantage: the force needed to lift a load is only a fraction of the load's weight. At ...
In modern times, this kind of rotary leverage is widely used; see a (rotary) 2nd-class lever; see gears, pulleys or friction drive, used in a mechanical power transmission scheme. It is common for mechanical advantage to be manipulated in a 'collapsed' form, via the use of more than one gear (a gearset).
A simple machine uses a single applied force to do work against a single load force. Ignoring friction losses, the work done on the load is equal to the work done by the applied force. The machine can increase the amount of the output force, at the cost of a proportional decrease in the distance moved by the load.
This nifty little tool helps you lift heavy objects like large panels of wood or drywall. It clamps onto the top of the panel and has a handle that lets you carry these large slabs right on your side.
Vitruvius, a military engineer writing about 28 BC, defined a machine as "a combination of timber fastened together, chiefly efficacious in moving great weights".About a century later, Hero of Alexandria summarized the practice of his day by naming the "five simple machines" for "moving a given weight by a given force" as the lever, windlass, screw for power, wedge, and tackle block (pulley).
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