The ratio of resistance to overcome to the effort applied is referred to as:

The correct answer is Mechanical advantage.

Key Points

​Mechanical Advantage (MA):

• In a simple machine when the effort (P) balances a load (W), the ratio of the load to the effort is called Mechanical Advantage.

\(\rm M.A = \frac{{Load}}{{Effort}} = \frac{W}{P}\)

Velocity Ratio:

• It is the ratio between the distance moved by the effort to the distance moved by the load.

\(\rm V.R = \frac{{Distance\;moved\;by\;the\;effort\;\left( {{d_P}} \right)}}{{Distance\;moved\;by\;the\;load\;\left( {{d_w}} \right)}}\)

Efficiency:

• It is the ratio of output to input. In a simple mechanism, it is also defined as the ratio of mechanical advantage to the velocity ratio.

\(\rm \eta = \frac{{Output}}{{Input}} = \frac{{M.A}}{{V.R}}\)

• In an ideal machine, the mechanical advantage is equal to the velocity ratio.
• The ratio of resistance to overcome to the effort applied is referred to as Mechanical advantage.
• Measurements that calculate the amplified force the mechanical system gains are known as mechanical advantages.
• As a result, it gives the ratio of the force used to lift the weight to the force needed to overcome that force.
• Mechanical advantage is a unitless parameter since the two values share the same unit of measure. Both the ratio of the forces present and the ratio of the distances they travel can be used to compute the MA.
• The ratio of the distance covered by the effort to the distance covered by the resistance should ideally be equal. This ratio is also easier to calculate.

Important Points

• The ratio of a machine's output to input is known as the machine's efficiency.
• The ratio between the theoretical and actual MAs is also identical.
• However, this does not imply that low-efficiency equipment has a limited range of applications.
• For instance, a car jack is inefficient because it must overcome a lot of friction. But even so, it is really useful because it only takes a little effort to lift a heavy object.