Physics
Levers and equilibrium
Torque: levers, pulleys and seesaws - where is the balance?
What happens
The law of the lever on a live seesaw: each weight pulls with its force times its arm, and the beam settles only when the torques cancel. Try the presets, then slide the weights along the beam and find the balance point yourself: a small weight far out holds a big one sitting close in.
Equations used in the module
Equations τ = r × F; |τ| = rF sin θ ΣF = 0; Στ = 0 F₁d₁ = F₂d₂ R = Σm_i r_i / Σm_i
