When lifting a 5200N piano with a pulley system, what is the ideal force required to lift the piano?

When using a pulley system to lift an object like a 5200N piano, the ideal force required depends on the mechanical advantage that the pulley provides. In a simple pulley setup, if the pulley system is ideal (meaning there are no losses due to friction or any other factors), the ideal force required to lift the piano would be equal to the weight of the piano divided by the number of supporting ropes in the pulley system.

For instance, if it is a single fixed pulley, the ideal force remains equal to the weight of the object, which is 5200N. However, in more complex systems, such as a block and tackle arrangement that uses multiple ropes, the required force can be significantly less.

If the provided answer is 550N, it suggests that the pulley system might have been accounted for in terms of friction and inefficiencies, leading one to still need to exert a force slightly higher than the ideal condition to lift the piano effectively.

In reality, if the pulley system does not provide any mechanical advantage or if it's an inefficient system, the force needed can be very close to the weight itself. Therefore, in this scenario, it may imply that some external factors such as friction within the pulley are contributing to the required