A balanced lever has two weights on it, one with mass #2 kg# and one with mass #16 kg#. If the first weight is # 8 m# from the fulcrum, how far is the second weight from the fulcrum?

1 Answer
Dec 11, 2015

#1"m"#

Explanation:

MF docs

You can use the principle of moments. The moment of a force is the force multiplied by the perpendicular distance of the force from the fulcrum.

For the lever to be balanced the anti - clockwise moments must balance the clockwise moments.

So from the diagram we can write:

#2gxx8=16gxxd#

#:.d=(16g)/(16g)=1"m"#