Meterstick Project

In class we were asked to find the mass of a meter stick using a 100g weight. I started by placing the meter stick on the edge of a flat table and put the 100g mass on the very end of the meter stick side that was off the table. I gradually moved the meter stick farther from the table until it became completely balanced with the weight on the end. Then I measured the distance from the mass to the table edge to find the lever arm. The entire meter stick is 100cm so the center of gravity would be at the 50cm mark. I subtracted the distance of the lever arm of the side off the table from the 50cm mark to find the lever arm of the other side of the meter stick. Once I found these components I used the torque equation where the torque of the left side would be equal to the torque of the right side (torque right=torque left). Torque is equal to the lever arm times the force to the final equation would be (Fxla)right=(Fxla)left. I plugged in the 100g mass to the force and the lever arm length off the table on the meter stick and made that equal to the lever arm of the side of the meter stick that was above the table time the variable x. Lastly I solved for x which gave me the mass of the meter stick!