A balanced lever has two weights on it, one with mass #2 kg# and one with mass #8 kg#. If the first weight is # 4 m# from the fulcrum, how far is the second weight from the fulcrum?
2 Answers
Explanation:
The concept that comes into use here is torque. For the lever to not tip over or rotate, it must have a net torque of zero.
Now, the formula of torque is
Take an example to understand, if we hold a stick and attach a weight at the front of the stick, it doesn't seem too heavy but if we move the weight to the end of the stick, it seems a lot heavier. This is because the torque increases.
Now for the torque to be same,
The first block weighs 2 kg and exerts approximately
The first block weighs 8 kg and exerts approximately
Putting this in the formula,
We get that x= 1m and hence it must be placed at a distance of 1m
The distance is
Explanation:
The mass
The mass
The distance
Taking moments about the fulcrum
The distance is