A balanced lever has two weights on it, one with mass #4 kg# and one with mass #2 kg#. If the first weight is # 9 m# from the fulcrum, how far is the second weight from the fulcrum?
1 Answer
Apr 1, 2016
Explanation:
To balance the lever, the torque about the fulcrum must be zero.
In this question, we have
#M_1 = 4 "kg"# #a = 9 "m"# #M_2 = 2 "kg"#
We want to find
Therefore,
#(4 "kg") * (9 "m") = (2 "kg") * b#
#b = frac{(4 "kg") * (9 "m")}{2 "kg"}#
#= 18 "m"#
