Balancing see-saws
This task is about levers and forces.
Adults and small children can have a successful see-saw if they sit in the right place.
"OH DEAR" | "YES, IT WORKS" |
Tui and Sonny decided to model the see-saw using a ruler and 50 g masses.
They put different number of masses on each side and moved them until the ruler was balanced. Then they recorded the mass and its distance from the turning point (fulcrum) for each side.
Here are their results:
Here are their results:
Left-hand side
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Right-hand side
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mass (g)
|
distance from fulcrum (cm)
|
mass (g)
|
distance from fulcrum (cm)
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50
100
150
200
|
8
6
5
4
|
100
150
50
100
|
4
4
15
8
|