- #1
Shoelace Thm.
- 60
- 0
Suppose a square metal mesh sheet is hung off-center from a string and you are charged with the task of hanging various weights so that the mesh will be in static equilibrium, roughly horizontal. Why is it that this task must be done with masses that can exert torques large enough to flex the sheet, otherwise the sheet will be in neutral equilibrium, stable at a wide variety of angles with the horizontal?
I don't quite understand why flexing would have anything to do with this. However, I can see why smaller torques could cause problems because very slight deviations from the horizontal (which are almost unavoidable) would be relatively large and so the system would not have a preferred orientation.
I don't quite understand why flexing would have anything to do with this. However, I can see why smaller torques could cause problems because very slight deviations from the horizontal (which are almost unavoidable) would be relatively large and so the system would not have a preferred orientation.