Counterweight

A counterweight is an equivalent counterbalancing weight that balances a load. Its purpose is to make lifting the load more efficient, which saves energy and is less taxing on the lifting machine.

Counterweights are often used in traction lifts (elevators), cranes and funfair rides. In these applications, the expected load multiplied by the distance that load will be spaced from the central support (called the "tipping point") must be equal to the counterweight's mass times its distance from the tipping point in order to prevent over-balancing either side. This distance times mass is called the load moment.

A counterbalance is a weight or force that balances or offsets another as when two objects of equal weight, power, or influence are acting in opposition to each other. The objects are then said to be in counterbalance.

Counterweights into action

Trebuchet: There are five major components of a trebuchet: beam, counterweight, frame, guide chute, and sling. After the counterweight drops from a platform on the frame, gravity pulls the counterweight and pivots the beam. Without the counterweight, the beam could not complete the arc that allows the sling to accurately release the projectile.

Counterweight (The Outer Limits)

"Counterweight" is an episode of the original The Outer Limits television show. It first aired on 26 December 1964, during the second season.

Opening narration

Plot

Four scientists, a newspaper man and a construction tycoon agree to spend 261 days in isolation in an interstellar flight simulation to planet Antheon, a world that would be a potential target for future human colonization. But the experiment is secretly infiltrated by an extraterrestrial presence, who causes the subconscious mind of the various passengers to go amok: one of the passengers finds the doll of his deceased daughter on his bed, while another one is almost choked in his sleep by invisible hands. As months pass onboard, relations between passengers become increasingly tense and uneasy, each one being faced with his own part of darkness. Horror eventually escalates with the plants of one passenger coming to life and destroying one another and the presence incarnating itself into one of the plants and making it grow into a huge, hideous creature. The extraterrestrial mind eventually reveals itself to the entire crew, claiming to be one of Antheon's indigenous inhabitants. The Humans are accused of planning to come to Antheon with intentions of aggressive invasion and conquest, one thing the aliens cannot accept. In the end, the simulation is interrupted.

Katie Power

Energizer (Kate Margaret "Katie" Power), is a fictional character in Marvel Comics' universe. She first appeared in Power Pack #1 and was created by Louise Simonson and June Brigman.

Publication history

Katie Power debuted as Energizer in Power Pack #1 (cover date August 1984), and used this superhero alter-ego between issues 1-25, then (after a power-swap) continued to star under the name Starstreak between issues 25-52, after which she took the name Counterweight for issues 52-62 (changing her costume in issue 47), before returning to her original codename (and costume) as Energizer in the Power Pack Holiday Special and subsequent 4-issue Power Pack miniseries published in 2000 - in the latter, she wore a different costume not previously seen. Katie did not resurface in the Marvel Universe until her appearance as a potential candidate for the Great Lakes Avengers in issue 2 of the GLA: MISASSEMBLED miniseries, where she is seen wearing her Power Pack costume from the Marvel Adventures range of Power Pack titles while operating as a solo superhero, in Loners #4, she was purportedly the recipient of a phone call from her sister Julie - though Katie was not seen during this conversation and in Fantastic Four #574, where she was among the guests for Franklin Richards' birthday party. The character has since made appearances in several of Marvel's 'alternate continuity' imprints, most notably as a recurring cast member in several Marvel Adventures and MC2 titles (see bibliography at foot of page).