5.

Is the net torque changed when a partner on a seesaw or teter-totter stands or hangs
from her end instead of sitting? (Does the weight or the lever arm change?

In every case, the weight is straight down. The moment arm (or lever arm) is the
perpendicular distance from the pivot to the weight. This means the counterclockwise
rotational effect of the force (that is, the torque) is the same whether the partner sits,
stands, or hangs from the seesaw or teeter-totter.
10. The center of mass of the entire solar system does not deviate from
the center of mass of the Sun as much as it does for the the two-body
combinations shown above, because planets on the opposite sides of
the Sun cancel out their individual effects.
15. Nobody at the playground wants to play with
an obnoxious boy, so he fashions a seesaw as
shown so he can play by himself.
1. The fulcrum is very far from the boy.
2. The weight of the boy is balanced by the
weight of the board.
3. The angular velocity of the boy is cancelled with that of the board.
4. The weight of the boy is balanced with an
unknown heavy metal.

20. Describe the comparative stabilities of the three objects shown in Figure 7.21, on
page 123, in terms of work and potential energy.

When each one is tipped, its center of mass is raised. This means each one is now sitting in
stable equilibrium. Going from left to right, as each one is tipped, its center of mass or
center of gravity is raised more than the one to its left. That means more work is done to
tip each succeeding one. That means each one is more stable than the one on its left.
A basketball player wishes to balance a ball on his fingertip. Will he be more successful
with a spinning ball or a stationary ball? What physical principle supports your
answer?

A spinning basketball already has some angular momentum about its axis of rotation.

A stationary basketball has zero angular momentum so it can easily rotate and fall over.

However, if it is rotating, it has an angular momentum that we could represent as a vector.

Now, if the spinning basketball falls over, its whole angular momentum changes. This

change in angular momentum will be large;

.
Such a large change in angular momentum requires a large torque (or rotational force).
That means it is far easier to balance a spinning basketball than to balance a stationary
one.

Bab 8
1. Gravitational force acts on all bodies in proportion to their masses. Why, then does
not a heavy body fall faster than a light body?
F=ma
While the gravitational force is, indeed, proportional to the mass of a falling object, that is
precisely what we require to have a constant acceleration due to Newton's Second Law,
F = m a.
8. If the mass of the Earth somehow increased, with all other factors remaining the
same, would your weight also increase?
(Hint: Let the equation for gravitational force guide your thinking.)
Increasing the mass of the Earth would increase the force of gravity on me and "the
force of gravity on me" is my weight. That is, my weight would increase.
16. If you were in a freely falling elevator and you dropped a pencil, you would see the
pencil hovering. Is the pencil falling? Explain. Think of a glass elevator on the outside of
a building -- so it can be seen easily and seen into easily.
It depends upon your "frame of reference". If you are falling along with the elevator, you will
see the pencil hovering -- so it certainly isn't falling as you observe it. However, someone
standing at rest on the Earth watching from the outside will see you, the elevator, and the
pencil all to be falling.
24.
32. It so happens that an actual increase in weight is found even in the deepest mine
shafts. What does this tell us about the density of the Earth's composition?

However, . . . , your weight will actually increase! That means you are getting closer to more
mass. That is, the outer layer of Earth has less density (less mass per volume) than the center.
The center might be made of something like lead while the outer layers are of something like
rock and soil.