What happens to the mechanical advantage if the effort arm of a lever is shortened?

When the effort arm of a lever is shortened, the mechanical advantage decreases. This is based on the principle of levers, where the mechanical advantage can be described as the ratio of the length of the effort arm to the length of the load arm.

Mechanical advantage allows for a smaller force to lift a heavier load by increasing the distance over which the effort is applied. If the effort arm is reduced in length, it means that the amount of force needed to lift the same load will increase, because the leverage provided by the longer arm is lost. As a result, more effort must be exerted to maintain the same lifting action against the load, which defines the decrease in mechanical advantage.

In essence, as the effort arm gets shorter, the effectiveness of that lever in reducing the required input force diminishes, leading to a situation where more effort is needed to achieve the same lifting result.