What happens to the load in a pulley system when the number of supporting strands is increased?

In a pulley system, the way force is distributed changes based on the number of supporting strands. When additional strands are used to support a load, it effectively reduces the amount of force that each strand needs to support. This means that the overall tension in the system decreases for the same load weight.

As the number of supporting strands increases, each strand carries a smaller portion of the total load. For instance, if there are two strands supporting a load, each strand would need to support half of that load’s weight. When you increase the number of strands to three or more, each one bears even less of the total weight. As a result, from the perspective of how it feels to the person or mechanism lifting the load, it becomes easier to lift.

Thus, with more supporting strands, the effective load that must be supported by each strand diminishes, leading to a decrease in the overall load being experienced by the user.