Question

A 10-kg tortoise sits on a see-saw 1 meter from the fulcrum. Where must a 2 - kg hare sit in order to maintain rotational equilibrium? Assume the see-saw is massless.

Answer 1

Given:

The mass of the tortoise is

`m_1=10\text{ kg}`

The mass of the hare is

`m_2=2\text{ kg}`

The position of the tortoise is

`r_1=1\text{ m}`

Required:

calculate the position of the hare

Step-by-step explanation:

to calculate the position of the hare we will use the torque concept here that is given as

`T=rF`

here r is the position and F is force due

we know that F is force of gravity that is equal to the weight.

rotational equilibrium means that total torque on the system is zero.

then the above relation as

`r_1m_1g=r_2m_2g`

plugging all the values in the above , we get

`\begin{gathered} 10\text{ kg}*1\text{ m}*9.8\text{ m/s}^2=r_2*2\text{ kg}*9.8\text{ m/s}^{\placeholder{⬚}} \\ r_2=(98)/(2*9.8) \\ r_2=5\text{ m} \end{gathered}`

Thus, the position of the hare is 5 m