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Long balancing poles help a tightrope walker to maintain balance. How?

Long balancing poles help a tightrope walker to maintain balance. How?

Grade:10

2 Answers

shubham sharda
360 Points
7 years ago
The artist often carries a balancing pole that may be as long as 12 meters (39 feet) and weighs up to 14 kilograms (31 pounds). This pole increases the rotational inertia of the artist, which allows more time to move his or her center of mass back to the desired position directly over the wire. This effect can be magnified by making the pole as long as possible and by weighting its ends. 

The pole also helps balance the funambulist by lowering the center of gravity. High-wire artists use drooping, rather than rigid, balance poles. 
Jitender Pal
askIITians Faculty 365 Points
7 years ago
Long balancing poles have large rotational inertia, therefore the effect of net torque (if any) appears over large time. This much time is sufficient enough for the person to adjust the length of the pole so that the effect of torque can be corrected, while moving forward on the tightrope.

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