Posted by Joel L. Lewis (24.197.38.131) on May 21, 2003 at 13:41:29:
In Reply to: Re: Man oh man, I REALLY think I've got it!!! posted by Darren on May 21, 2003 at 12:40:05:
So, if we bring it back to levers, and you have two equidistant and equal weights, but one hangs down a few inches, do they ballance then too? I thought not, but I could be wrong...
: :Imagine a pulley with a line hung over it. There's a weight on the line on the right, and on the other side is an equal weight, but much lower. What's going to happen? The lower weight i going to go DOWN, the higher weight will go UP, and the point halfway between them will remain halfway between them as they move away from it. Correct?
: Um... no... if the weights are both equal in mass, and you discount the weight of the "rope" or whatever connects them then they won't go anywhere... the lower weight won't drop and the upper weight won't climb... they'll just hang there.
: Think about it... why would the lower weight go down if there's an equal amount of weight on the other side to balance it?
: Darren