a boy is able to persuade his father to play with him in a seesaw. if the boy wanted to get on the seesaw and to balance his weight against his fathers at what point from fulcrum should he sit?
Wouldn't it matter where Dad sat, his weight, and the boys weight?
yes
To balance the weight on a seesaw, the torque on both sides of the seesaw must be equal. Torque is the product of the force applied and the distance from the fulcrum.
In this case, the boy and his father are sitting on opposite sides of the fulcrum. Let's say the boy's weight is represented by Wb, and the father's weight is represented by Wf. The boy's distance from the fulcrum is represented by Db, and the father's distance is represented by Df.
To balance the seesaw, the torque on both sides must be equal. Mathematically, it can be represented as:
Torque on boy's side = Torque on father's side
Wb * Db = Wf * Df
Since the boy wants to balance his weight against his father's, we can assume that Wb = Wf.
Therefore,
Wb * Db = Wb * Df
We can simplify the equation by canceling out the weight on both sides:
Db = Df
So, the boy should sit at the same distance from the fulcrum as his father to balance the seesaw.