Question

A steel beam that is 7.00 m long weighs 326 N. It rests on two supports, 3.00 m apart, with equal amounts of the beam extending from each end. Suki, who weighs 555 N, stands on the beam in the center and then walks toward one end. How close to the end can she come before the beam begins to tip?

Answer 1

Answer:

The answer to the question is

Suki is 1.12 m close to the end of the steel beam before the beam begins to tip

Explanation:

To solve the question we list out the known variables first

Length of steel beam, L = 7.00 m

Weight  of steal beam W = 326 N

Distance between supports = 3.00 m

Weight of Suki = 555 N

By moments theory, the sum of moments about a point = 0

and assuming the steal beam is uniform, the weight of the beam will act at the center of the beam

As described the supports are 2.00 m from each end of the beam thus

taking moments about one of the support with Suki between  the end of the beam and the support we have

Distance from center of beam to support = 1.5 m

Distance of Suki to the nearest support = x m

therefore 555 × x + 326 × 1.5 = 0

or x = -0.881 m on the other side of the support

Therefore Suki is (2 - 0.881) m or 1.12 m close to the end before the beam begins to tip