Lab 8 Torque Lab
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School
Lone Star College System, Woodlands *
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Course
1410
Subject
Aerospace Engineering
Date
Dec 6, 2023
Type
docx
Pages
4
Uploaded by MegaCaribouPerson745
Lab 08-
Torque and Equilibrium Lab
Objective
: What causes rotational motion?
The determining concept for rotational motion is
torque
. We
will experiment with various situations to see how the concept of torque can be used to determine the
rotational motion.
Theory
: The principle behind balance can be explained by
torque
. Torque is the critical concept for
rotational equilibrium. This can be explained by the balance experiment below:
In the explanation in this experiment, we use the mass of the object to express its weight, this will not
affect the result of our prediction since the same gravitational constant
g
is ignored for every object.
The unit of the length is also ignored since all the length measurements use the same unit. We choose to
call torques that produce a
counterclockwise
rotation
positive
, torques producing
clockwise
rotations
negative
. The torque (
τ
) is defined as the product of the force (
f
) and the level arm (
l
).
τ
=
f l
With this convention, the torques produced by various mass are:
the level arm of the 5kg weight is 8, the torque it produced would be
5
×
8
=
40
,
the level arm of the 10kg weight is 2, the torque it produced would be
10
×
2
=
20
.
The level arm of the 20kg weight is 3, torque it produced would be -
20
×
3
=−
60
, we give it
an additional negative sign because it will produce a clockwise rotation if it acts on the system by
itself.
And as a result, the net torque is
40
+
20
+
(
−
60
)
=
0
And consequently the system is balanced or in rotational equilibrium since the net torque is zero.
Procedure
: This experiment can be accessed via clicking the following link:
https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/balancing-act
As shown in the figure above, there are three simulations in this experiment:
Intro,
Balancing Lab,
Game.
We are going to go through all of them. Your tasks in each simulation are listed below.
Simulation 1:
Intro.
Check every checkbox inside the rectangle at the upper-right corner
. With all items in
this box checked, all the measurements are visible. The functionalities of each part of the software are
explained below:
Your task in this part: get familiar with the software.
Simulation 2:
Balance Lab.
Question
: What are the masses of mystery objects: A, B, C, and D. Tips:
You should use object with known mass, for example, brick or people to wight against the
mystery object.
The mystery objects are no visible the first time you load the software. In order to access the
mystery objects, click
until you see the following panel
.
After finding the mass of each object, document the its mass and your reasoning below (the procedure
to solve the mass of object E is provided as an example):
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(1.5 points each object)
Objec
t
Mass
Reasoning
A
20 kg
Object A with level arm
6 is balanced by a
20 kg brick with level arm
6. And the mass
is 20.
B
5 kg
Object B with level arm
3 is balanced by a
5 kg brick with level arm
3. And the mass is
5.
C
10 kg
Object D with level arm
8 is balanced by a
20 kg person with level arm
4. And the
mass is 10.
D
7.5
kg
Object H with level arm
4 is balanced by a
10 kg brick with level arm
3. And the mass
is 7.5
E
3 kg
Object E with level arm
5 is balance by a
15kg brick with level arm
1. And
consequently the its mass is
15
×
1
5
=
3
.
Simulation 3:
Game. (
2 points)
Solve puzzles about balancing — add an object to balance the plank, predict the direction the plank will
move when the supports are removed, or determine the mass of an unknown object. As the level
increases, the challenges become more difficult. All 4 levels are fun to play, your will be surprised that
the single concept of
torque
can be used to solve all puzzles.
Your task in this part is enjoying the game and having fun, and sharing three fun on-screen moments you
created when you play the game. You can either
take a screen shot or take a photo of the screen with
your phone, and then attach the file at the end of the file
.
Conclusions
:
(2 points, 1 point each)
1, What is the requirement for a system to be in rotational equilibrium?
A)
The net torque of applied on the system is positive.
B)
The net torque of applied on the system is zero.!!!!
C)
The net torque of applied on the system is negative.
2, Which of the following concept determines the rotational motion of a system?
A)
Force.!!!
B)
Level arm.
C)
Torque.