Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrick
It's been a long time, but I think this is how you solve it algebraically, IIRC.
W1 = initial weight on each side.
W2 = weight to add on light side.
D1 = initial distance to weight on each side.
D2 = distance to weight on light side.
Summation of torques must equal zero.
W1(D1) = W1(D1)
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Patrick is correct, although I believe he meant the "first" basic equation to be:
W1(D1) =
W2(D2)
...a simple mnemonic is:
"...both strings-lengths have to be equal..." meaning a string from the center out the length of D1, then hanging down (representing weight W1) has to be the
same length as D2ŚW2, ...ie: D2 can be ANY length, as long as the remaining W2 'length' totals up to the same 'length' of the W1(D1) side.
...the "other" way to express this "inverse-proportion" relationship is:
W1/W2 =
D2/D1