Lever
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Back
to Classical Mechanics
A lever
consists
of a rigid bar that rotates about a fixed point, called a fulcrum.
See Fig. 1 below
Let the
fulcrum support a rod that has two external forces, F1
and F2,
applied in the same direction, perpendicular to the left and right ends of the
rod, respectively, as shown in the diagram. The distances from the left end to
the fulcrum is d1
and the distance from the right end to the fulcrum is d2.
The condition of static equilibrium is