Question

Scientist Galileo once said "Give me a long road and a place to stand. I can topple the earth". What type of lever was Galileo talking about? Explain

Answer 1

Galileo had in mind a class II lever. As shown in figure in this lever the earth is behaving as load, F is an imaginary fulcrum very close to earth (say moon) and effort is to be applied at the other end of the rod far away from the fulcrum. Since effort arm is very long, mechanical advantage is reduced to the least. But this is a totally imaginary situation.