In a pulley system with multiple rope sections supporting the weight, the lifting force is

• A. Weight divided by number of rope sections
• B. Weight multiplied by number of rope sections
• C. Weight divided by number of pulleys
• D. Weight added to rope length

Answer: (A)

In pulley setups with multiple supporting strands, the load is shared among all the rope sections directly supporting it. The force you must apply is the weight of the load divided by how many rope sections are bearing that load. This is the idea of mechanical advantage: more supporting strands mean less input force needed, proportionally.

For example, if the weight is 200 units and there are four rope sections supporting it, you would need about 200 ÷ 4 = 50 units of lifting force in an ideal system without friction or rope mass. The number of pulleys can increase the number of supporting sections, but what determines the required lifting force is the count of strands supporting the load, not the rope length or the number of pulleys alone. In real life, friction and rope weight slightly raise the needed force, but the core relationship remains: lifting force equals the weight divided by the number of supporting rope sections.