Question

(4) At the harbor, they watch sailors loading barrels onto

ships using ropes and pulleys. Pulleys enabled people to lift
much more weight than they normally could. Watch this video
about pulleys and how they work. In your notebook, draw a
diagram to show a single fixed pulley and a single moveable
pulley. Write a few sentences to explain why you can lift twice
as much with a single moveable pulley. Try making your own
pulley. Go here to learn how.

Answer 1

A movable pulley is attached to the load being lifted, and it moves with the load.

The key advantage of a movable pulley is that it effectively reduces the force needed to lift a load. When using a single movable pulley, you can lift twice as much weight with the same force because the load is distributed between the fixed support and the movable pulley. The weight of the object is shared between the two segments of the rope supporting the load.

In summary, a single movable pulley provides a mechanical advantage by distributing the load between the fixed support and the movable pulley. This makes it easier to lift heavy objects compared to a single fixed pulley or lifting the object directly without any mechanical assistance.