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Re: Race car weight

To: Stan Fickes <fickes@acm.org>
Subject: Re: Race car weight
From: Chris Heerschap <Heerschap@kns.com>
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002 15:55:32 -0500
Stan Fickes wrote:
> Weigh yourself, then again while holding the car. Subtract the first from
> the second... ;)

*LMAO!*  Car != dog! :o

One trick to weigh something with a scale that doesn't go up that high
is to have some sort of lever assembly:

  ______WEIGHT______
  ^               ||
 Pivot          Scale

In this instance, weight * the weight's distance to pivot == scale
reading * the scale's distance to pivot.  Or... the weight is the scale
reading * the scale's distance divided by the weight's distance.  So if
the scale reads 100lb and the weight is 1/2 the distance of the scale,
the weight is 200lb.

Now, with 300lb scales, this could be a problem.  One solution is to use
a number of 2x10s.  Put the car up on one side on 2 2x10s, and have the
other side some distance along a 2x10 on top of another 2x10 (the pivot)
with the other end on the scale.

Lemme try more ASCII art:

      _____
     /     \
    oo=====oo  <-- car
    |_______|
    ||     ||
    ==  =========== <-- long 2x10
    ==  ==       ## <-- scale
    ^   ^
    |   |
    |   short 2x10
    |
    two short 2x10s

Wow... that looks painful.  Hope you understand the jist here... 
depending on how heavy the car is, this probably won't give you reliable
results.  But, if it worked, you could weigh both tires on one side (or
one end, I guess) and then repeat it for the other side.  As long as you
kept the car level, it *should* work.

I really don't know how else you would weigh a car that has over 600lb
on any wheel with two 300lb scales.  Hopefully someone else has
something less klugy.
Any quarries or dragstrips near you?

cmh
-- 
Chris Heerschap - UNIX Systems Mutilator                   Ancoro imparo

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