The Physics of Leverage in Lifting

Lesson 9

Human Handbook

Use a simple torque model while recognising what it leaves out.

Read first

Red Flags & Boundaries

Mass Is Only Part of the Demand

The same shopping bag can be harder to hold away from the body than close to it. Its mass has not changed; the turning effect of its weight about a joint has.

Bones, joints and muscles form a complex system of levers. A simple lever model explains part of the difference without predicting every force inside the body.

Lesson 9

Human Handbook

The Physics of Leverage in Lifting

Use a simple torque model while recognising what it leaves out.

Read first

Red Flags & Boundaries

Mass Is Only Part of the Demand

The same shopping bag can be harder to hold away from the body than close to it. Its mass has not changed; the turning effect of its weight about a joint has.

Bones, joints and muscles form a complex system of levers. A simple lever model explains part of the difference without predicting every force inside the body.