Final answer:
Mechanical advantage for a nail puller with given effort and resistance distances is calculated to determine the force needed. The nail puller has a mechanical advantage of 25, requiring a minimum effort force of 50 N to apply a force of 1250 N to the nail. The wire cutter's IMA based on distances is 5, with additional considerations for the dimensions of the cutter blades.
Step-by-step explanation:
Understanding Simple Machines
The question refers to the mechanical advantage of simple machines, specifically a nail puller and a wire cutter. The mechanical advantage (MA) is a key concept in physics that measures how much a machine multiplies the force or motion put into it. The formula for mechanical advantage is MA = resistance force / effort force, or when considering distances from the pivot, MA = effort distance / resistance distance.
For the nail puller in question, the effort distance is 45 cm and the resistance distance is 1.8 cm. Therefore, the mechanical advantage is MA = 45 cm / 1.8 cm, which simplifies to MA = 25. This means that the nail puller multiplies the exerted force by 25 times. To apply a force of 1250 N to the nail, we use the inverse of the mechanical advantage formula to find the minimum effort force needed: Effort Force = Resistance Force / MA. Substituting the given values, we get Effort Force = 1250 N / 25, resulting in a minimum effort force of 50 N required.
The wire cutter example involves calculating the ideal mechanical advantage (IMA) considering both the lengths from the pivot and the dimensions of the cutter blades. With the handles gripped 10 cm from the pivot and the wire 2 cm from the pivot, the IMA based on distances is 10 cm / 2 cm = 5. However, as the blades are 2 cm wide and 0.3 cm thick, further calculations or considerations might be needed to fully understand the overall IMA of this more complex machine.