Science time with P-Daddi: Mechanical Advantage

Dan pulls me over as if it were three of him! Three Dans? Amazing! Coolest swiftwater instructor ever!

Ok, so as you can see, there is only one Dan :-( but his strength is amplified through a Mechanical Advantage system.
"What is this magical amp system?" you may ask, well what happens is a single rope is set through a number of pulleys so that it shortens the draw distance as you (or the amazing Dan) pull on the out line. As the draw distance shortens, the force-F is amplified by 1+the number of pulleys hooked in it as shown below:

The drawback? for each pulley you add, the distance required for x amount of output force increases. It is actually a simple (and this is an uncommon and very loose term) Conservation of Work (force times distance) problem. As the number of pulleys increases, the amount of force decreases, or the distance increases. anther way to put it is W=F*d, F=W/d or d=W/F (where W is work, F is force, and d is distance [or displacement, however you want to put it]).

To learn more, visit this cool site (most call it "Wikipedia", I call it a treasure trove of knowledge!) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_advantage


Follow me this week as I detail my trip through the Owyhee Canyonlands and set up Sam the Science teacher's super sweet TESLA COIL!!!