efficiency

efficiency
/i fish"euhn see/, n., pl. efficiencies.
1. the state or quality of being efficient; competency in performance.
2. accomplishment of or ability to accomplish a job with a minimum expenditure of time and effort: The assembly line increased industry's efficiency.
3. the ratio of the work done or energy developed by a machine, engine, etc., to the energy supplied to it, usually expressed as a percentage.
[1585-95; < L efficientia, equiv. to efficient- (see EFFICIENT) + -ia -Y3]

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In mechanics, the measure of the effectiveness with which a system performs.

It is stated as the ratio of a system's work output to its work input. The efficiency of a real system is always less than 1 because of friction between moving parts. A machine with an efficiency of 0.8 returns 80% of the work input as work output; the remaining 20% is used to overcome friction. In a theoretically frictionless, or ideal, machine, the work input and work output are equal, and the efficiency would be 1, or 100%.

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Universalium. 2010.

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