You and a friend are moving a very heavy and irregular piece of furniture across

Question

You and a friend are moving a very heavy and irregular piece of furniture across a room. You are lifting it to prevent it from scratching your wooden floor. Your friend lets you pick where you are going to hold it and your friend will hold it at the other end (or some other place you tell your friend to hold it). To make it easier on yourself, you would:

a. Hold the end closer to the center of mass (your friend holds the other end)

b. Hold the end farther from the center of mass (your friend holds the other end)

c. Hold it at the center of mass and have your friend hold it from one of the other ends

d. It doesn't matter where you pick - you'll both have to exert the same force no matter where you hold it.

e. Hold either end since you have to exert the same force no matter which end you pick

Explain please.

Explanation / Answer

b) Hold the end farther from the center of mass (your friend holds the other end)

Since the torque is equal to product of force and distance.

To lift the piece, you and your friend should apply same torque.

So if you hold the end farther from the center of mass you can lift the piece with less force.

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