Question
If the other force acts at a perpendicular distance of 40 cm from the axis and the body is in equilibrium, what is the size of the force?
Answer
4
(260 Votes)
Zinnia
Master · Tutor for 5 years
Answer
The size of the force is
.
Explanation
## Step 1: Understand the problem. The problem involves a body in equilibrium, which means the sum of the forces and the sum of the moments (torques) acting on the body are both zero. We are given that a force acts at a perpendicular distance of 40 cm from the axis (the point or line about which the body rotates), but we are not given the magnitude of this force. We are asked to find the size of this force.## Step 2: Use the principle of moments. The principle of moments states that for a body to be in equilibrium, the sum of the clockwise moments about any point must be equal to the sum of the anticlockwise moments about the same point. A moment (or torque) is the product of a force and its distance from the axis of rotation, and it is given by the formula:###
## Step 3: Since the body is in equilibrium, the sum of the moments is zero. Therefore, the moment due to the unknown force must be zero. This implies that the force itself must be zero, because the distance from the axis of rotation is not zero.