Posted by Joel Lee Lewis (24.197.47.250) on May 23, 2003 at 12:21:09:
In Reply to: Re: Man oh man, I REALLY think I've got it!!! posted by Darren on May 23, 2003 at 11:38:11:
Hummm...I don't believe that I did, in this case, though granted, people make mistakes all the time. And I also seem to recall a show on PBS, I think it was, where they reconstructed middieval cattapults and mentioned that(whatever the reason)the path the counterweight travelled as they fell if they were hung caused them to throw a given weight farther. But I don't want this thread to turn into an argument!:-D Test it yourself and get back to me on it!:-)
: : : :So, would the same hold true if it's two equal equidistant weights on a lever, but one hanging some inches down? I think at least in that case, the lower weight overbalances, but I'm not sore of the relevent torques involved.
: : : They would balance.
: : : Think about what you just described... It would be an old fashioned set of balance scales like lady justice holds... right? Or, since they hang down at diferent distances, maybe a better example would be a child's mobile hanging above a crib... the dangling objects are at different heights but they still balance each other. One side of the first (top) obile part has one large ball weighing 1kg hanging from it and the other side has multiple mobile parts with multiple levels of other parts and balls, all totalling 1 kg in weight, haging from it... the multiple parts and balls all dangle down much farther than the other side, the single ball, but it all balances.
: :But...I actually TESTED this one(recently bought a set of......K'NEX!:-D Hey, the parts are cheap, functional, and easy to mannipulate!)since my last reply, over the weekend-the lower weight overballanced. I also made sure that the lever itself was ballanced and assured myself that weight of the string, or in this case shoelace, was not a significant factor. Since you can't argue with experiment, I think you're missing some torque somewhere....
:
: Actually you can argue with experiments, people make mistakes in their experiments all the time.
: If two weights are hanging from a lever, both equidistant from the center, and both weigh the same... then they *will* balance no matter how high or low they are ... you don't even need to experiment... this is a basic in every physics book.
: I'm sorry but unfortunately you're missing something somewhere. Either you weighed something wrong or you've attached them slightly off or something like that.
: Darren