Work out lever mechanical advantage instantly with clear inputs, formula shown and shareable results.
A lever balances moments, so effort times effort arm equals load times load arm. The mechanical advantage is the ratio of the arms - 1.2 m against 0.3 m gives four, so a 600 N load needs only 150 N of effort. Nothing is free: the effort end must travel four times as far, keeping the work the same.
Moment balance
effort x effort arm = load x load arm
Mechanical advantage
MA = effort arm / load arm
No. Force is multiplied and distance divided by the same factor, so work in equals work out apart from friction.
The formula covers all three. First class has the pivot between effort and load, second the load between, third the effort between - and third class always has MA below one.