I am slogging my way through calculations for a Center of Gravity and Equilibriu

Question

I am slogging my way through calculations for a Center of Gravity and Equilibrium lab. In the lab, we had to determine the center of gravity of a meterstick by balancing it on a pencil. Then we had to hold the meterstick by a knife-edge support at a place other than the center of gravity, and hang one weight on the ruler to regain equilibirum. One of the lab questions I have to answer is this: Does the accuracy of your results in finding the weight of the meterstick improve when the knife-edge support is placed further from the center of gravity? Explain.

I'm thinking it does not matter where the support is placed because the torques (clockwise and counterclockwise) on the meterstick should balance if the stick is in equilibrium. Right?

Explanation / Answer

yeah, it does improved. The torque is balanced of course, but the problem here is that the nearer the edge with the center of gravity, the larger chance of being wrong. Assume that the position that you decided for the center is around x0+-?x. then the smaller the distance from the edge is the larger uncertainty error percentage.

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