mechanical advantage

plural mechanical advantages

1. countableuncountableengineeringThe ratio of the output force produced by a machine (especially a simple machine) to the applied input force.

   Mechanical advantage is a ratio of like quantities and therefore has no units.

   2005, Robert Michael Boyce, Arnold Masterman, Plumbing: A Practical Guide for Level 2, Nelson Thornes, page 131

   2 more examples

   […]and it will always be found, that the mechanical advantage of the wedge may be ascertained by comparing its perpendicular elevation with its base.

   1825, Maria Edgeworth, Richard Lovell Edgeworth, Works of Maria Edgeworth, Volume 1: Practical Education, Samuel H. Parker, page 304

   In the case of a lever with a mechanical advantage of 10 the effort has to move ten times as far as the load. This is the price which must always be paid for a mechanical advantage. Any machine which is designed to have a high mechanical advantage must also have a high velocity ratio. In fact, 'what is gained in force is lost in speed'.

   1965, A. E. E. McKenzie, General Physics, Cambridge University Press, page 76

2. countableuncountableUsed other than figuratively or idiomatically: see mechanical, advantage.

   Synonyms: leverage