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An arm designed to work on a Mars exploration vehicle is shown inFigure 2. It uses a piston on one side to move a claw on the opposite sideup and down. The mass of the arm is 340 g and the mass of the claw is5.285 g. It can be assumed that mass of the arm is uniformly distributed. The arm is 50 cm long and is pivoted 35 cm from the claw which is-positioned at the very end of the arm. The piston is 5 cm from the other end.

In tests on Earth, the piston can provide a maximum force on the arm of 1.0 kN. What is the maximum mass of a rock that can be picked upby the claw on Earth? Assume that the arm stays approximately horizontal during the test. On Mars the arm and claw would be able to pick up a larger mass of rock due to Mars' reduced surface gravitational field strength. An-alternative method uses a small tank in place of the piston. Liquid can be pumped into or out of the tank. The weight of the liquid provides-the force needed to lift the rock. The test is repeated. Show that the mass of rock that can be lifted now,is independent of the gravitational field strength. If the centre of mass of the tank described in part (b) is in the same position as the piston, calculate the mass of liquid in the tank needed to support a rock of 50 g mass.

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