A balanced lever has two weights on it, the first with mass 1 kg and the second with mass 4 kg. If the first weight is 25 m from the fulcrum, how far is the second weight from the fulcrum?

1 Answer
Apr 8, 2018

6.25 \ "m"

Explanation:

For a balanced lever, we have the following relationship:

m_1d_1=m_2d_2

  • m_1,m_2 are the masses of the two objects

  • d_1,d_2 are distances of the two objects from the fulcrum

And so,

1 \ "kg"*25 \ "m"=4 \ "kg"*d_2

d_2=(1color(red)cancelcolor(black)"kg"*25 \ "m")/(4color(red)cancelcolor(black)"kg")

=6.25 \ "m"