Mechanical Advantage of Different Screws

Which screw provides the greater mechanical advantage?

A) Screw 1
B) Screw 2
C) Both screws have the same mechanical advantage.
D) The mechanical advantage cannot be determined with the given information.

Answer:

Screw 1 provides a greater mechanical advantage compared to Screw 2, as it has a smaller pitch, which means the threads are closer together and more turns are required to travel the same distance.

Considering the mechanical advantage of a screw, it can be understood that it is influenced by the pitch of the screw, which is the distance between two successive threads. In this case, Screw 1, with closer threads, has a smaller pitch.

Screw 1 provides a greater mechanical advantage because the smaller distance between its threads (smaller pitch) means that it requires more turns to travel the same distance as Screw 2. More rotations mean that the effort force is applied over a greater distance, which according to the principle of simple machines, results in a larger mechanical advantage.

Therefore, the answer to the question of which screw provides greater mechanical advantage is A) Screw 1.