This is a home work problem shown in many Fundamental Physics textbooks .
* How to stack four uniform blocks on top of a table, so that they extend as far right as possible and still remain stable.
* How should each be positioned?
* Can the top block have its entire length beyond the edge of the table.
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# Rules :
So long as the center of gravity is directly above some point
within area of support, the system will be stable
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# You can drag and move blocks horizontal with your mouse.
# The stability of the sub-system is color coded
1. Green: the sub-system is in stable equilibrium
2. yellow: the center of gravity is right above the edge of the supporting block.
3. red: the sub-system is unstable, it will fall in real life.
# The center of gravity for each block is shown as a small blue dot.
# If you press "Show center of mass" button
1. The center of gravity for the blocks being moved will be shown as vector.
2. The length of the vector is proportional to the gravitational force for each balanced sub-system.
[url=http://www.phy.ntnu.edu.tw/ntnujava/index.php?topic=10.0]Original JDK1.0.2 version of the the same simulation[/url]

Virtual Physics laboratory Original URL

Fu-Kwun Hwang, Dept. Of Physics, National Taiwan Normal University.