A circus act involves a trapeze artist and a baby elephant. They are going to balance on a teeter-totter that is 10 meters long
and pivoted at the middle. The lady has a weight of 500 newtons and is standing on one end. The elephant has a weight of 2500 N and is walking toward her on the beam. How far does the elephant have to walk from the end toward the middle to balance the beam
Balance point will be achieved as soon as the weight of the baby elephant creates torque equal to torque created by weight of woman about the pivot. torque by weight of woman
weight x distance from pivot
= 500x 5
= 2500 Nm
torque by weight of baby woman , d be distance of baby elephant from pivot at the time of balance
= 2500x d
for equilibrium
2500 d = 2500
d = 1 m
So elephant will have to walk up to 1 m close to pivot or middle point.
