Question

When Marcel finds the distance L from the previous part, it turns out to be greater than Lend, the distance from the pivot to the end of the seesaw. Hence, even with Jacques at the very end of the seesaw, the twins Gilles and Jean exert more torque than Jacques does. Marcel now elects to balance the seesaw by pushing sideways on an ornament (shown in red) that is at height h above the pivot. (Figure 3)With what force in the rightward direction, Fx, should Marcel push? If your expression would give a negative result (using actual values) that just means the force should be toward the left.Express your answer in terms of W, Lend, w, L2, L3, and h.

Answer 1

Answer:

Fx = - (1/h)( wL2 + wL3 - wLend )

Explanation:

Assuming The twins Gilles and Jean has a weight ( w ) each

The torque that would balance the equation would be = wL2 + wL3 -------- 1

THEREFORE the ccw torques are = wLend + Fh ----------- 2

hence equation 2 equals equation 1

= wLend + Fh = wL2 + wL3 --------- 3

equation 3 can as well be represented as

F = ( 1/h) ( wL2 + wL3 - wLend )---------- 4

From equation 4 it can be seen that F is on the left hand side therefore the value of Fx is negative

therefore equation 4 is represented as

 Fx = - (1/h)( wL2 + wL3 - wLend )