Static Equilibrium EX 3
We will consider the board and the diver as one object. Then the forces exerted on this system are the gravitational force on the diver (the magnitude is 60 N), and the forces exerted by the two supports, and . The force acts on the system at the pivot, the force acts at a distance 0.5 m from the pivot and the gravitational force acts at the distance of 3 m from the pivot. The diving board is in equilibrium and therefore
The diagram below shows the free body diagram and it also shows the force vectors tail-to-tail with the lever arm vectors.
We will compute the torques. Note that the torque exerted by the force is zero:
Forces | Direction | Torque |
---|---|---|
CW | ||
CCW | ||
0 |
Solving the equation
The net force must be zero:
The negative sign indicates that the force points downward. It means that the diving board has to be "clamped" to the supporting pilon. The clamps that exert the downward force on the diving board.