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Increasing Output Speed with a Lever
by Ron Kurtus (updated 3 May 2022)
You can use a Class 1 or Class 3 lever to increase the output speed that the load moves, according to where the fulcrum is located. To increase the speed, the length of the load arm of the lever must be greater than the length of the effort arm.
The equation for the speed of the load or effort relates to the speed mechanical advantage of the lever. From the equation, you can determine an unknown speed or length.
Questions you may have include:
- What do the Class 1 and Class 3 levers look like?
- What is the speed equation for the mechanical advantage?
- What is an example of an application?
This lesson will answer those questions. Useful tool: Units Conversion
Using Class 1 or Class 3 lever
You can increase the speed at which a load moves as compared to the speed of the effort by using either a Class 1 or a Class 3 lever. These levers can be used as a catapult to project an object at a high speed.
Increase the speed the load moves with a Class 1 lever
You could use such a lever to to project an object at a high speed. However, what you gain in speed requires a greater effort force. Thus in many cases, the Class 1 lever is used, because pushing down with your weight is easier than pulling up.
Increase the speed the load moves with a Class 3 lever
Since the load or output length (dO) is longer for a given lever length, the Class 3 lever would result in a greater speed mechanical advantage and be able to project the object faster.
Speed equation
The relationship between the effort speed and load speed is dependent on the ratio of the arms of the lever, according to the equation:
SO/SI = dO/dI
where
- SO is the resulting speed of the output or load
- SI is the speed of the input or effort
- dO is the length of the output or load arm
- dI is the length of the input or effort arm
Note that SO/SI is the speed mechanical advantage of the lever.
(See Speed Mechanical Advantage for more information.)
Application
Suppose you wanted to project an object to a speed of 10 meters/second with a lever that is 2 meters long. The length of the load or output arm is 1.5 m and the length of the effort or input arm is 0.5 m. What effort speed must you use?
SO/SI = dO/dI
Solve for SI:
SI = SOdO/dI
Substitute values:
SO = 10 m/s
dO = 1.5 m
dI = 0.5 m
SI = 10*(0.5)/1.5 = 3.33 m/s
Summary
You can use a Class 1 or Class 3 lever to increase the speed of the load, according to where the fulcrum is located. To increase the load speed, the length of the load arm of the lever must be greater than the length of the effort arm.
The equation for the speed of the load or effort relates to the speed mechanical advantage of the lever. The speed equation is:
SO/SI = dO/dI
From the equation, you can determine an unknown speed or length.
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Increasing Output Speed with a Lever