Question

A balanced lever has two weights on it, the first with mass `6 kg` and the second with mass `4 kg`. If the first weight is `5 m` from the fulcrum, how far is the second weight from the fulcrum?

Answer 1

Second weight is `7.5` `m` far from fulcrum.

Explanation:

Let the the second weight be `x` `m` far from the fulcrum.

As the lever is balanced, moment (`M=F*d`, where `F` is force applied and `d` is its distance from fulcrum) of the two weights should be equal.

Moment of first weight is `6*5=30` and as it balances second weight of `4` kg, the latter's distance should be

`30/4=7.5` `m`.