Consider the diagram.

Calculate the total potential energy.

V Ve Vg
...... (1)
Vg

Ve
Here,

is the elastic potential energy, and

is the gravitational energy.

Write the equation for the elastic potential energy.

Ve

1
kT 2
2

kT
Here,

is the torsional stiffness of the spring, and

is the angular deflection.

Write the equation for gravitational energy.

l
Vg mg cos
2
Here, m is the mass of the bar, g is the gravitational constant, and l is the length of the bar.

Substitute

1
kT 2
2

Ve
for

, and

l
mg cos
2

Vg
for

in equation (1)

V Ve Vg

1
l
kT 2 mg cos
2
2

...... (2)

Derivate the equation

Equilibrium occurs for

dV
0
d

dV
l
kT mg sin
d
2
Derivate the equation (2) twice

d 2V
l
kT mg cos
2
d
2

Determine the maximum value of l for which equilibrium at the position

At

d 2V
0
d 2

kT mg

lmax

l
0
2

2kT
mg

Hence, the maximum value of l is

2kT
mg

is stable.