Final answer:
Wire scissors are designed for cutting fine wire and the overall Ideal Mechanical Advantage (IMA) for the wire cutter would be 5, providing a five-fold mechanical advantage in use.
Step-by-step explanation:
Wire scissors, commonly referred to as wire cutters, are specifically designed for cutting fine wire. An electrician, for example, would use a pair for stripping wires or cutting them to length during electrical work. The wire cutter operates as a simple machine, giving the user a mechanical advantage, which can be quantified as its Ideal Mechanical Advantage (IMA).
The IMA of a wire cutter can be calculated by dividing the distance from the pivot point to the handle grips by the distance from the pivot point to the cutting edge. In this case, the electrician grips the handles 10 cm from the pivot and applies the wire to be cut 2 cm from the pivot. The distance ratio yields an IMA of 10 cm / 2 cm = 5.
However, you specified that the wire cutter blades are 2 cm wide and 0.3 cm thick, but these dimensions don't directly affect the calculation of IMA, which is solely concerned with distances from the pivot point. Therefore, the overall IMA of this wire cutter would be 5, providing the user with a five-fold mechanical advantage when cutting fine wires.