explain thoroughly please
Sure. Let's say that a crane needs to hoist a load of 10 tons, and that because it needs to reach over some obstacles, needs to lift at a horizontal distance of 50 feet away. That creates a torque about the base of the crane of 500 ton·ft. By positioning a counterweight on the opposite side of the tower, the magnitude of the moment can be mitigated. For instance, let's say a counterweight of 10 tons is positioned at 25 ft on the other side of the tower. The moment produced by the counterweight is 250 ton·ft, so the net moment at the base is 250 ton·ft. Furthermore, when the 10 ton load is positioned and release, there is still a 250 ton·ft moment at the base of the tower; it has simply switched direction (say from rotating the crane to the right, to rotating it to the left). If you find this helpful, please award Best Answer!
