Meter Stick Experiment

In the experiment we conducted, we were attempting to find the mass of a meter stick only using the meter stick and a 100 gram weight. 

When balancing a meter stick, the torques have to be equal, but the forces to not.

To find torque, you must know the equation

Torque= Force * Lever Arm

The meter stick was balanced in a way similar to the following picture

Since it was balanced, we knew the clockwise and counterclockwise torques were equal.

So, we multiplied the force and lever arm of the weighted side to find the torque.

Then, we divided that number by the length of the opposite lever arm.

This gave us the force of that side of the meter stick.

When you divide this number by the numerical value of gravity, you will have the mass!

Torque and Rotational Inertia Resources

This video was made by three students that were in physics last year. It is helpful because explains things like the definition of torque and when torque comes into play in life. Also, its pretty funny, which just makes learning more fun.

This video shows an example that we went over in class. It shows that even if two things have the same mass, the one with the mass closer to its axis of rotation will have a lesser rotation inertia. The visual helps me learn.