A balanced lever has two weights on it, the first with mass $4 kg$ and the second with mass $32 kg$ . If the first weight is $5 m$ from the fulcrum, how far is the second weight from the fulcrum?

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Answer 1 · 2016-02-26T17:59:17

$color(brown)("The second weight is 40 metres from the fulcrum")$

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The way to compare the two sides for 'Equilibrium' (balanced) is to compare 'moment arms' using force times distance

So we end up with $(32xx5) Kgm=(4x) Kgm$

Divide both sides by 4 giving:

$(32xx5)/4 =x$

$x= 40$ but $x$ is in metres so we have:

$color(brown)("The second weight is 40 metres from the fulcrum")$

A balanced lever has two weights on it, the first with mass 4 kg 4 kg and the second with mass 32 kg32 kg. If the first weight is 5 m 5 m from the fulcrum, how far is the second weight from the fulcrum?