Blog 8 - Torque

As inspiration for my blog, I asked my family members to try and balance a broom with 1 finger, after about a half an hour of laughter, they all finally were able to balance the brooms.  My family members didn't know how torque worked, that is t=Fr.  Torque is the force that causes things to have a net rotational acceleration, and to balance something, its net torque must be 0.  To accomplish this, there must be an equal amount of torque on both sides on the fulcrum, my finger.  The broom balances in this location because although the sweeping side of the broom is heavier, its lever arm is short, therefore, making its torque not very large, and the handle side of the broom has a low mass but its level arm is very long, making its toque big enough to balance the torque from the heavier side of the broom.  Torque is always a fun way to have an afternoon full of laughs with the family, and an excuse to not clean up my room!