"Give me a long enough lever & I can move the world"
Can someone explain what he meant by that statement?
SERIOUS answers please!
2006-11-25 15:45:13 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Mathematics
This is probably more of a physics problem.
Consider a lever (just a stick, say) which is balanced at some point (not necessarily the middle).
Now, if we push down with a certain force, the 'torque' (physics word; don't worry too much about it) is equal to force * distance from pivot point. Now, the total 'torque' on the opposite end of the lever must be the same - and since it is a different distance from the pivot, it has a different force.
Example: lets say you have a 5 m stick, which is balanced 1m from the right end. If you push down with a force of 10N say, on the left end, thats a torque of 10*4 = 40, since its 4 m from the pivot. So the other end must be pushed up with a force of 40/1, since it is a distance of 1 from the pivot - ie 40N.
So, by pushing down on a simple lever, we actually get 4 times that force pushing up on the other side. Make the lever long enough, and the pivot far enough to one side, and a tiny amount of pushing can lift as much weight as you want. Theoretically.
2006-11-25 15:55:26 · answer #1 · answered by stephen m 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A see-saw is a lever. If both ends are equal in length you can just balance a person your own weight. If your arm of the lever is four times as long you can balance (or move) someone four times as heavy. In theory at least if you had a lever with a long enough force arm you could move anything- the earth for instance. In practice this would not be possible. What would you balance a lever thousands of miles long on and what would you make such a lever of? Archimedes was just stating in a dramatic fashion how useful a lever is in reducing the force you must use to get work done.
2006-11-26 00:26:53 · answer #2 · answered by JimWV 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hello,
The Archimedean Property simply states that given two things where one is extremely large and the other extremely small, we can increase the smaller one by some factor so that it exceeds the larger one. It's a property in mathematics. And in mathematics it is stated this way. Given two numbers a and b (both greater than zero) such that b>a, we can find a number n>0 so that an>b.
This is exactly what Archimedes is saying about the lver and the world. The way a lever works is that it increases a persons strength by some factor, so Archimedes is saying that given a long enough lever and a well placed pivot, his strength will be increased enough so that he moves the world.
2006-11-26 00:59:20 · answer #3 · answered by toyallhi 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the lever provides mechanical advantage
more the length of the levergreater will be the mechanical advantage.thatmeans with a selatively small effort great loads can be moved.
perhaps this is what archimedes meant.
2006-11-26 00:27:25 · answer #4 · answered by raj 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you gave him a long enough chunk of wood, and a place off the earth to stand, he is saying that he could flip the planet off into the sun or any other place in space.
2006-11-25 23:53:20 · answer #5 · answered by geek31459 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Probably it was just a statement about the usefulness of the principle of leverage and torque.
2006-11-25 23:54:00 · answer #6 · answered by Jim Burnell 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋