A balanced lever has two weights on it, the first with mass 22 kg and the second with mass 21 kg. If the first weight is 4 m from the fulcrum, how far is the second weight from the fulcrum?

1 Answer
Apr 15, 2018

4.2 \ "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 the distances of the two objects from the fulcrum

And so,

22 \ "kg"*4 \ "m"=21 \ "kg"*d_2

d_2=(22color(red)cancelcolor(black)"kg"*4 \ "m")/(21color(red)cancelcolor(black)"kg")

~~4.2 \ "m"