How much force is needed to tip a box with given dimensions and weight?

[poyganhunter]

Homework Statement

Hello, its been a long time since I've worked with statics or dynamics in college and now find myself in the workfield trying to figure out a current problem! What I am looking for is how much force is needed to tip a box.
The box i have has dimensions of:

Length=400in, width=10.75in, Height=26.25in
The box has 1500 hundred pounds of material centered, but located 7 in from ground level

If i were to push on the box in the center(200in from end), and 25 in from ground level(near top of box), how much force would that take?

Homework Equations

The Attempt at a Solution

initially i used an equation of

(1500lb)(5.375in)=(F applied)(25in) which gave me an applied force of 322.5lb of applied force.

Does this sound correct?

 

[PeterO]

Homework Statement

Hello, its been a long time since I've worked with statics or dynamics in college and now find myself in the workfield trying to figure out a current problem! What I am looking for is how much force is needed to tip a box.
The box i have has dimensions of:

Length=400in, width=10.75in, Height=26.25in
The box has 1500 hundred pounds of material centered, but located 7 in from ground level

If i were to push on the box in the center(200in from end), and 25 in from ground level(near top of box), how much force would that take?

Homework Equations

The Attempt at a Solution

initially i used an equation of

(1500lb)(5.375in)=(F applied)(25in) which gave me an applied force of 322.5lb of applied force.

Does this sound correct?

SOme weird units you are using there, but thenumbers look OK.
You are using torques, so the final units should be ft.lb or perhaps in.lb.

 

[poyganhunter]

what am i missing in this equation then? if it helps to add more info the issue we are having is these boxes tipping due to people pushing near the top. what I am really looking for is how much of a difference 1.5 inches would make in the height of the box. its designed right now to be 26.25 inches high, but we are thinking about increasing the height to 27.75 to accommodate the addition of another 2x4 on the bottom for a runner. what i would like to do is a comparison of the to to show the guys how much difference there is between the two..

are there any equation i should add or would be better suited?