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Sorry for double posting, but when they say MA, do they usually tend to say IMA or AMA? Sorry if it's a stupid question.

bzc11 wrote:Sorry for double posting, but when they say MA, do they usually tend to say IMA or AMA? Sorry if it's a stupid question.

First of all, this could vary on the question so always use your best judgement. The normal definition of "mechanical advantage" is the measure of force amplification - so this is essentially the same as AMA, the ratio of force out to force in. However, oftentimes if they are not bothering to specify AMA or IMA they will be talking about an ideal machine, with no friction, so IMA=AMA=MA.

If your intuition fails you, these are potentially decent guidelines: If they ask you about mechanical advantage and give you distance data, use IMA. If they give you force data, use AMA. If it is a multiple choice relating to the definition, go with the force definition.

bzc11 wrote:Hi, I'm doing it at states, and my partner and I can average around 18-20 seconds.

Did you medal? (I'm betting on 1-6 place for that time)

Does anyone else feel like the Nats test for SM was too easy? That was the general consensus between my teammate and I, so I'm just wondering what the other teams thought.

I did find it quite easy, but somehow I messed up on the lever trying to move very quickly, and I don't know what I did

What kind of times were you guys getting at nationals? What was the fastest you heard of?

My team took 22 seconds and got 18th place. I dunno about the top 10, but I'm guessing 10-15 seconds... I do know that one of the proctors commented that our device was fast. However, he might have just been being nice, plus we were in one of the earlier time blocks.

Algorhythmic wrote:What kind of times were you guys getting at nationals? What was the fastest you heard of?

We had 22 seconds, a weight of 1006g and 8th place overall. We are pretty certain the unknown mass was ~1000g because they used two lead ingots.

I got in the 830s for my answer and got 26 seconds. My overall place was 4.

I am pretty sure the weight is around 1020 grams, and i got 1024 in 18 seconds. Failed the test i think, so got 13th.