Consider a uniform horizontal wooden board that acts as a pedestrian bridge. The bridge has a mass of 300 kg and a length of 10 m. The bridge is supported by two vertical stone pillars, one 2.0 m from the left end of the bridge and the other 2.0 m from the right end of the bridge. If a 200 kg knight stands on the bridge 4.0 m from the left end, what force is applied by the left support

F = 2123.33N

Explanation:

In order to calculate the torque applied by the left support, you take into account that the system is at equilibrium. Then, the resultant of the implied torques are zero.

Next, you calculate the resultant of the torques around the right support, by taking into account that the torques are generated by the center of mass of the wooden, the person and the left support. Furthermore, you take into account that torques in a clockwise direction are negative and in counterclockwise are positive.

Then, you obtain the following formula:

         (1)

τl: torque produced by the left support

τp: torque produced by the person

τcm: torque produced by the center of mass of the wooden

The torque is given by:

          (2)

F: force applied

d: distance to the pivot of the torque, in this case, distance to the right support.

You replace the equation (2) into the equation (1) and take into account that the force applied by the person and the center of mass of the wood are the their weight:

Where d1, d2 and d3 are distance to the right support.

You solve the equation for F and replace the values of the other parameters:

The force applied by the left support is 2123.33 N

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