Science Grade 8

W1 - Lesson 4: Gears, Mechanical

Advantage, Speed Ratios, and Efficiency
V5-07
 Important Concepts of Grade 8 Science Materials
Required
W1 - Lesson 1 ...................................................................... Mass, Volume, and Density
W1 - Lesson 2 ............................................................. Solubility and Saturation Points
Textbook:
W1 - Lesson 3A ...................................................... Viscosity, Flow Rate, and Buoyancy
Science in
W1 - Lesson 3B .................................................................................... Simple Machines
Action 8
W1 - Lesson 4 .................Gears, Mechanical Advantage, Speed Ratios, and Efficiency
W1 - Lesson 5 .....................................................................Hydraulics and Pneumatics
W1- Quiz
W2 - Lesson 1 ....The Role of Cells within Living Things, Cells-Tissue-Organ System
W2 - Lesson 2 ......................................................................................... The Microscope
W2 - Lesson 3 ................................................................................ Body Systems Part 1
W2 - Lesson 4 ................................................................................ Body Systems Part 2
W2 - Lesson 5 ................................................ Problems Associated with Body Systems
W2 - Quiz
W3 - Lesson 1 ....................................................Transmission and Absorption of Light
W3 - Lesson 2 .......................................................... Reflection and Refraction of Light
W3 - Lesson 3A ...................................................................................Vision and Lenses
W3 - Lesson 3B .. Water in its Various States Affects Earth’s Landforms and Climate
W3 - Lesson 4 ........................................................ Adaptations to Aquatic Ecosystems
W3 - Lesson 5 ........................................................................................... Water Quality
W3 - Quiz ..........................................................................................................................

Science Grade 8
Version 5
Preview/Review W1 - Lesson 4

Publisher: Alberta Distance Learning Centre

Author: Kevin De Clerq
In-House Teachers: Barb Philips and Norene Pinder

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Preview/Review Concepts
for
Grade Eight Science

W1 - Lesson 4:
Gears, Mechanical Advantage,
Speed Ratios, and Efficiency
 OBJECTIVES
By the end of this lesson, you should

• identify and describe different types of gears

• do simple calculations for reducing and multiplying gears

• calculate the mechanical advantage, speed ratios, and efficiency of simple

machines

GLOSSARY

efficiency - how well something uses multiplying gears - gears which

energy for its intended purpose increase output speed

gears - wheels with interlocking teeth reducing gears - gears which reduce
used to transfer energy output speed

mechanical advantage - amount speed ratio - the measure of how the

by which a machine multiplies speed of an object is affected by
force a machine
Preview/Review Concepts W1 - Lesson 4 Science Grade 8

W1 - Lesson 4: Gears, Mechanical Advantage, Speed Ratios, and

Efficiency

Welcome to W1 - Lesson 4. This lesson is designed to teach you

about gears, mechanical advantage, speed ratios, and
efficiency. It should take about 1.5 hours to complete.

Gears

An important simple machine not yet discussed is the gear. Gears

are wheels with teeth that interlock. The wheel that has an external
force applied to it is the driving gear; the one that receives force
from the driving gear is the driven gear. Sprockets are gears
joined by a chain, as on a bicycle.

When the driving gear is larger than the driven gear, they are
called multiplying gears. Speed is increased and force decreased
using this combination.

See what happens if you use the following multiplying gear

combination on a bike.

driving gear (front sprocket) has 48 teeth

driven gear (back sprocket) has 12 teeth

Everytime you push the foot pedal one complete rotation, the front
sprocket turns the same. The back sprocket will turn

48
= 4 turns in the same time
12

This will turn the back tire four complete rotations, to speed the bike up.

When the driving gear is smaller than the driven gear, they are called reducing gears.
Speed is decreased and force is increased.

An example of reducing gears can be found in a mechanized display tray. If the driving
gear has 10 teeth and the driven gear has 100 teeth, the tray (attached to the driven gear)
will turn

10
= 0.1 times for every turn of the driving gear
100

In other words, to turn the display once, the driving gear must turn 10 times.

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Science Grade 8 Preview/Review Concepts W1 - Lesson 4

Activity 1

Read and understand pages 274 to 275 in Science in Action 8. Then,

answer the following questions.

1. A driving gear has 18 teeth, and the driven gear has 6 teeth.
How many times does the driven gear turn for every one turn of
the driving gear?

2. Assume the following information for a bicycle. The front

sprocket used has 48 teeth, the back sprocket used has 8 teeth.
For every turn of the back sprocket, the back tire (circumference
= 2.5 m) also makes one complete turn. How far does the bike
move with every turn of the front sprocket?

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3. If you were riding a bike in a race, what type of gear

combination would you want to use?

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4. If you were riding a bike up a steep hill, what gear combination

would you want to use?

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Preview/Review Concepts W1 - Lesson 4 Science Grade 8

5. What type of gear gives more force than speed?

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Machines affect the amount of force applied to an object or load,

plus the speed at which a load is moved. Different machines have
different efficiencies. The mechanical advantage, speed ratio, and
efficiency can be calculated for any machine.

Mechanical Advantage

One of the main reasons we use machines is to do something

with less force. In other words, we want to gain a mechanical or
force advantage. The mechanical advantage of a machine is
determined by finding the ratio of output force to input force. The
equation used for this is

Output force
Mechanical Advantage (MA) =
Input force

The greater the ratio, the greater the mechanical advantage, and
the less the force needed as input. For example, a MA of 6 means
the machine applies 6 times the force you put into it; a machine
with a MA of 2 applies only 2 times the force you put into it.

If a machine has a MA less than 1, you are putting more force into
it than you are getting out of it. In that case, you are probably using
the machine to gain a speed advantage.

An example of mechanical advantage is seen in a pulley system.

This system required 100 N input force to get 3000 N output force.
The mechanical advantage of the machine is

3 000 N
= 30
100 N

In other words, you can get out 30 times the effort you put into this
machine.

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Science Grade 8 Preview/Review Concepts W1 - Lesson 4

Activity 2

Read and understand page 280 in Science in Action 8. Then, answer

the following questions.

1. The machine you are using requires an input force of 60 N to

put out 300 N force. What is the mechanical advantage of this
machine?

2. Give an example of where you might want a force advantage.

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Speed Ratios

Sometimes we want to have an object increase speed. We can use

simple machines to do that. A speed ratio tells how much a
machine affects the speed of a load.

Input distance
Speed Ratio (SR) =
Output distance

The greater the ratio, the SLOWER the load moves and the faster
the input part moves. If you want the load to move faster than the
input, the speed ratio of the machine must be less than 1.

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Preview/Review Concepts W1 - Lesson 4 Science Grade 8

A speed ratio can be calculated for a class 1 lever. If the end of the
load arm moved 0.5 m in the time it took the effort arm to move 2 m,
the speed ratio is

2m = 4
0.5 m

In other words, the load moved one-quarter times as quickly as the

effort and the effort moved four times as quickly as the load.

Activity 3

Read and understand page 281 in Science in Action 8. Then, answer

the following questions.

1. Where might you want a speed advantage?

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2. To pull a load 2 m using a particular pulley arrangement, the

rope must be pulled 12 m. What is the speed ratio of the pulleys?

Summary: The greater the mechanical advantage a machine

produces, the slower it will move the load. Conversely, the less the
mechanical advantage, the faster the load will move.

Another way of saying this is the easier it is to move a load a certain

distance, the further the input must move to do it. An example is a
pulley system with a mechanical advantage of 4. To move its load
1 m, the input rope must be pulled 4 m.

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Science Grade 8 Preview/Review Concepts W1 - Lesson 4

Efficiency

Efficiency is a measurement of how well a machine or device uses

energy. The formula to calculate efficiency is

Mechanical Advantage
Efficiency = x 100
Speed Ratio
or

MA x 100
Efficiency (%) =
SR

If a machine has a mechanical advantage of 3 and a speed ratio of 4,

its efficiency is

3 x 100% = 75%
4

Activity 4

Read and understand pages 284 to 286 in Science in Action 8. Then,

answer the following questions.

1. Why are machines never 100% efficient?

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2. What are some ways of dealing with heat caused by friction in

machines?

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Preview/Review Concepts W1 - Lesson 4 Science Grade 8

3. Explain why the mechanical advantage of a machine is affected

by friction, but the speed ratio is not.

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4. The following information is known about a simple machine.

Input force = 12.0 N Input distance = 0.5 m

Output force = 5.0 N Output distance = 1.0 m

What is the efficiency of the machine?

You should now be able to meet all of the objectives

listed at the beginning of the lesson. Go through the list
to see if there is anything you need to spend more time
on.

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Science Grade 8 Preview/Review Concepts W1 - Lesson 4

Extended Activity (Homework)

Look for gears on some machines at home. Determine if they are

multiplying or reducing gears.

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