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Multiple Choice

The greatest increase in mechanical advantage occurs at how many parts?

In pulley systems, mechanical advantage equals the number of rope segments supporting the load. When you start with a fixed setup, the load is supported by one segment, so MA is 1. Introducing the first moving pulley adds a second rope segment that shares the load, doubling the MA to 2. This is the largest single jump you get from adding parts, because each additional part can increase MA further (to 4, 8, etc.), but the incremental gain after that first move is smaller. So the greatest increase in mechanical advantage occurs when there are two parts.

In pulley systems, mechanical advantage equals the number of rope segments supporting the load. When you start with a fixed setup, the load is supported by one segment, so MA is 1. Introducing the first moving pulley adds a second rope segment that shares the load, doubling the MA to 2. This is the largest single jump you get from adding parts, because each additional part can increase MA further (to 4, 8, etc.), but the incremental gain after that first move is smaller. So the greatest increase in mechanical advantage occurs when there are two parts.