Question

The wheel of a car has a diameter of 16 inches and moves a smaller wheel of 4 inches. What is the mechanical advantage gained by the system?

a.)1:4
b.)4:1
c.)1:2
d.)2:1

Answer 1

The mechanical advantage gained by the wheel system is 4:1.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question asks about the mechanical advantage (MA) gained by a car system involving wheels of different sizes. The mechanical advantage can be calculated by dividing the diameter of the larger wheel by the diameter of the smaller wheel.

Since the diameter of the car's wheel is 16 inches and the diameter of the smaller wheel is 4 inches, the mechanical advantage is 16/4 which equals 4. Therefore, the correct answer is (b) 4:1. This means the larger wheel would provide four times the mechanical advantage over the smaller wheel.

The mechanical advantage gained by the system can be calculated by taking the ratio of the diameter of the larger wheel to the diameter of the smaller wheel. In this case, the larger wheel has a diameter of 16 inches and the smaller wheel has a diameter of 4 inches. So, the mechanical advantage is

16/4 = 4.

Therefore, the correct answer is b. 4:1.