Optical Rangefinders, Why Bigger is Better
Last time we discussed the fact that ultra fine gradations must be applied to a rangefinder’s indicator gauge in order to make accurate measurements of extremely long distances. Today we’ll see how using…
Further Limitations of an Optical Rangefinder
As We discussed earlier that when optical rangefinders are used to measure the distance to objects extremely far away we encounter problems. We discussed one of them last time, the fact…
The Principle of Parallax
We’ve been looking at the indirect methods employed by scientists through the ages as they struggled to determine the distance of our Earth from its sun. Today we’ll take a look…
Newton’s Law of Gravitation and the Universal Gravitational Constant
Last time we discussed the term acceleration of gravity, a physical phenomenon posited by Sir Isaac Newton in his book Philosophia Naturalis Principia Mathematica. Newton’s Law of Gravitation is also presented in this…
Equations Used to Manipulate Torque Relative to Horsepower
Already we learned that we can get more torque out of a motor by using one of two methods. In the first method we attach a gear train to the motor,…
The Mathematical Link Between Gears in a Gear Train
Previously we analyzed the angular relationship between the Force and Distance vectors in this simple gear train. here we’ll discuss about commonality between the two gears in this train which will later enable us to…
Pulleys as a Work Input-Outut Device
In our previous topic we saw how adding extra pulleys resulted in mechanical advantage being doubled, which translates to a 50% decreased lifting effort over a previous scenario. Pulleys are engineering marvels that make our lives…
Dynamic Lifting is Easier With a Compound Pulley
Dynamic Lifting is Easier With a Compound PulleyIf you’ll recall from our last topic, Mr. Toga used a compound pulley to assist him in holding an urn stationary in space. To do so,…
Mechanical Advantage of a Compound Pulley
In this Topic series on pulleys we’ve gone from discussing the simple pulley to the improved simple pulley to an introduction to the complex world of compound pulleys, where we began with a static representation. We’ve used the engineering tool…
The Compound Pulley
Sometimes one of something just isn’t enough, like one potato chip, one glass of wine… And when it comes to lifting massive objects one simple pulley isn’t going to be enough to…
