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| mechanical efficency often abbreviated ME. Mechanical Efficiency is the ratio of work input to work output. It is often expressed as a percentage. The efficiency of an ideal machine is 100 percent but an actual machine's efficiency will always be less than 100% because of the Second law of thermodynamics which states that the quality of energy will decay, eventually becoming heat. This means that some of the work put into the system is transformed (lost) into thermal energy (heat). In a mechanical system, friction is the most common cause of the work lost to heat. The actual Mechanical advantage of a system is always less than the ideal mechanical advantage due to these losses.
Guess I have learned something from ISU physics after all!
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