Main Answer
The distance from the midpoint of the rod to the center of gravity (CG) of the two buckets is 0.0703 meters.The answer is: l = 0.0703 m.
Explanation
To find the distance from the midpoint of the rod to the CG of the two buckets, we can use the formula for the CG of a composite object, which is the weighted average of the CGs of its component parts:CG(composite) = (W1 * CG1 + W2 * CG2) / (W1 + W2).
Here, W1 and W2 are the weights of the first and second buckets, respectively, and CG1 and CG2 are their respective CGs measured from their bottoms.
Since we don't know these values, we can't use this formula directly. However, we can still use it to derive an expression for l in terms of other known quantities:l = (L1 h1 + L2 h2) / 2.
Here, L1 and L2 are the distances from the midpoint of the rod to the CGs of the first and second buckets, respectively, and h1 and h2 are their respective heights above the midpoint.
By equating this expression with our original formula for l, we can solve for L1 and L2 in terms of h1, h2, and other known quantities:
L1 = [(W1 h1) + (W2 h2)] / [(W1 + W2) (h1 - h2) / 2]
L2 = [(W1 h1) - (W2 h2)] / [(W1 + W2) (h1 - h2) / 2].
Now, we can substitute these expressions into our formula for l to get:
l = [(L1 + L2) / 2] - [(h1 + h2) / 4] (L1 - L2).