Meaning of balance (what is it, concept and definition)

What is Balance:

Balance is the state of a body when the sum of all the forces and moments that act on it are counteracted. It comes from the Latin aequilibrĭum , which is made up of " aequus ", which means 'equal', and ' libra ', 'balance'.

We say that someone or something is in balance when, despite having little support, stands up without falling. In this sense, synonyms for balance are counterweight, compensation or stability.

By extension, we recognize balance in situations of harmony between different things or between parts of a whole. Attitudes such as equanimity, restraint, sanity, good sense and composure, for example, are taken as a show of balance, as well as we relate balance to a person's mental health.

In Physical Education, we know as a sense of balance the physiological faculty by perceiving our position in space and we are able to stay on our feet. The acrobats, meanwhile, exploit this ability and lead to the end in very complicated situations, like walking a tightrope several meters high. This practice is known as balancing and whoever performs it is called a balancing act.

We also use plural balance to target the set of maneuvers or acts of prudence aimed at sustaining a delicate, insecure or difficult situation. While the expression balancing refers to the fact that we must adjust our expenses, since our income is less than what we earn.

Balance in physics

For Physics, equilibrium is the state of a system in which two or more components coexist simultaneously, mutually counterbalancing each other, canceling out. It can be presented in a static body, not subject to any type of modification, be it of translation or rotation; or in a moving body. The latter can cause three types of balance:

• Stable balance: one to which a body that has been removed from its position returns by itself. A pendulum would perfectly illustrate stable equilibrium. Indifferent balance: that independent of the position of the body. For example: a wheel on its axis. Unstable balance: one in which the body does not regain the initial position, but moves to a more stable position of balance. Consider a cane that was standing on its foot and falls to the ground.

Thermodynamic balance

In thermodynamics, a system is said to be in equilibrium when the state variables (mass, volume, density, pressure, temperature) have the same value at all points. For example, when adding ice cubes to a tea to cool it, we find that, after a while, the ice has dissolved and the temperature has become uniform, because thanks to the transfer of heat, thermal equilibrium has occurred.

Balance in chemistry

In Chemistry, a reaction is said to be in a state of equilibrium when it does not progress in any direction, although the transformation reaction takes place in two opposite directions and at the same time, but forming the same number of molecules in both, without registering changes in its compounds.

Economic balance

In economics, economic equilibrium refers to the state in which the price of a product is either determined by the correlation between its supply and demand in the market. In this sense, we say that market equilibrium exists when the supply of a product or a given good is equal to its demand. Faced with a variation, the interdependence relationship that governs the dynamics of the market favors the factors that intervene in the economic equilibrium to be activated to compensate for any imbalance, from which it follows that the economic system will always seek stability.

Environmental balance

On the Ecological level, environmental balance refers to the regulation, minimization and self-sustainability of the impact of human activity on its natural environment. Due to the importance that is currently attached to environmental balance, conservation and governmental institutions and agencies have been created to monitor how industry and the exploitation of natural resources affect the living conditions of animal and plant species. and its environment.