Name: ______________________________________________________________________________
Class: ______________________________________________________________________________
Torque and Horsepower
Tleft = Tright
In groups of 2, set up the following lever. Place the balancing bracket/ring on the 50
cm mark. Place another on the 5 cm mark, and a third on the 65 cm mark. You will want to
make sure that the rings are all oriented downward. We will be using a spring scale on the
left to lift the 1 kg weight on the right. We are going to observe how the forces output by the
weight change, when varying the distance that it is placed at.
The spring scale measures this force. On the next pages are tables to track the force
output by 5 positions of the weight, depending on the distance from the fulcrum or center.
F x d = T
Torque is a “twisting force.” It measures how much something tends to pull an
object around a circle. You should be able to see how the ruler makes a circle as it turns.
What is the object that we are pulling around that circle?
____________________________________________________________________________________
Left Force Distance Torque Right Force Distance Torque
(spring) (N) (m) (Nm) (weight) (N) (m) (Nm)
position .45 position 10
#1 #1
position .45 position 10
#2 #2
position .45 position 10
#3 #3
position .45 position 10
#4 #4
position .45 position 10
#5 #5
Create two plots of the following information:
Torque Left
(Nm)
Force (N)
Torque Left
(Nm)
Torque Right (Nm)
How many times can you raise the weight a full 20 centimeters in 30 seconds?
Multiply by .2 meters for total distance (m)!
Multiply by 10 Newtons for Work (Nm)!
Divide By 30 seconds for Power (Watts)!
Divide by 746 to convert to Power in “horsepower!”
More torque allowed you to do what?
More power enabled you to do what?
