# Static Equilibrium and tension of a beam

## Homework Statement

In the figure below, a uniform beam of weight 520 N and length 3.4 m is suspended horizontally. On the left it is hinged to a wall; on the right is it supported by a cable bolted to the wall at distance D above the beam. The least tension that will snap the cable is 1200 N.

What value of D corresponds to that tension?

## Homework Equations

$$\Sigma\tau$$ = 3.4m(520N) + ???

## The Attempt at a Solution

I'm not really sure what to put in after what I have put in already.
I know it's conservation of torque but that's about it..

kuruman
Homework Helper
Gold Member
At what point on the beam does gravity act? Draw a free body diagram and put in all the forces. Then say that the sum of all the torques is zero.

I know that gravity acts on the beam at 1.7m but I'm not seeing how I'm supposed to set the sum of the torques equal to zero..but that's probably because I'm not sure what forces are acting upon the beam besides gravity and the tension from the cable.

kuruman