Lever calculator
"Give me a place to stand and I will move the Earth." The arithmetic is a ratio of distances.
Effort needed
125N
- Mechanical advantage
- 4.000 00
- Moment about the fulcrum
- 150 N m
- Effort travel for 100 mm of load travel
- 0.4
Show the working
- Load = 500
- Load distance from the fulcrum = 0.3
- Effort distance from the fulcrum = 1.2
- Mechanical advantage = 1.2 / 0.3 = 4
- Effort needed = 500 / 4 = 125
- Moment about the fulcrum = 500 * 0.3 = 150
- load_travel = 0.1 = 0.1
- Effort travel for 100 mm of load travel = 0.1 * 4 = 0.4
Values are shown to six significant figures here; the arithmetic itself runs on exact fractions and is only rounded where a number is printed.
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The formula
- load x load arm = effort x effort arm
- mechanical advantage = effort arm / load arm
A lever multiplies force and divides distance. The work done is the same either way, less friction.