Physics 2213

Solution Tutorial n°5

2019-2020

1. The distance between two telephone poles is 50.0 m. When a 1.00-kg bird
lands on the telephone wire midway between the poles, the wire sags 0.200
m. Draw a free-body diagram of the bird. How much tension does the bird
produce in the wire? Ignore the weight of the wire.

S1 m  1.00 kg 50.0 m
m g  9.80 N  0.200 m
0.200 m
tan  
25.0 m T T
  0.458

Balance forces, mg

2T sin   m g
9.80 N
T  613 N
2sin 

2. A bag of cement of weight 325 N hangs from three wires as suggested in Figure. Two of
the wires make angles θ1 = 60° and θ2 = 25° with the horizontal. If the system is in
equilibrium, find the tensions T1, T2, and T3 in the wires.
 T3  Fg
1 2
S2 (1)

T1 sin 1  T2 sin  2  Fg (2)

T1 cos 1  T2 cos 2 (3)

Fg
Eliminate T2 and solve for T1
T1
T2
Fg cos 2 Fg cos 2
T1   1 2
 sin 1 cos 2  cos1 sin  2  sin 1   2 
T3
T3  Fg  325 N
 cos25.0 
T1  Fg   296 N
 sin 85.0 
 cos1   cos60.0 
T2  T1   296 N   163 N
 cos 
2
 cos25.0 

3. A 20.0-kg box rests on a table. (a) What is the weight of the box and the normal force acting on it?

(b) A 10.0-kg box is placed on top of the 20.0-kg box, as shown in Fig. 3. Determine the normal force that

the table exerts on the 20.0-kg box and the normal force that the 20.0-kg box exerts on the 10.0-kg box.

Fig. 3

S3. (a) The 20.0 kg box resting on the table has the free-body diagram shown. Its weight
 
is mg   20.0 kg  9.80 m s  196 N . Since the box is at rest, the net force on the box
2

must be 0, and so the normal force must also be 196 N .


(b) Free-body diagrams are shown for both boxes. F12 is the force on box 1 (the
  
top box) due to box 2 (the bottom box), and is the normal force on box 1. F21 FN1  F12

is the force on box 2 due to box 1, and has the same magnitude as F12 by
 Top box (#1)
Newton’s 3rd law. FN2 is the force of the table on box 2. That is the normal

force on box 2. Since both boxes are at rest, the net force on each box must m1g
be 0. Write Newton’s 2nd law in the vertical direction for each box, taking the
 upward direction to be positive.

 F 1  FN1  m1 g  0 FN2

 
FN1  m1 g  10.0 kg  9.80 m s2  98.0 N  F12  F21 Bottom box
(#2)
F 2
 FN 2  F21  m2 g  0
 
m2 g F21

FN 2  F21  m2 g  98.0 N   20.0 kg  9.80 m s 2
 294 N

4. What average force is required to stop an 1100-kg car in 8.0 s if the car is traveling at

95 km h ?

S4. Find the average acceleration from Eq. 2-2. The average force on the car is found from Newton’s
second law.
 0.278 m s  v  v0 0  26.4 m s
v  0 v0   95 km h     26.4 m s aavg    3.30 m s 2
 1km h  t 8.0 s

 
Favg  maavg  1100 kg  3.3 m s 2  3.6  103 N
The negative sign indicates the direction of the force, in the opposite direction to the initial
velocity.

5. How much tension must a rope withstand if it is used to accelerate a 1200-kg car
vertically upward at 0.80 m s 2 ?

S5. Choose up to be the positive direction. Write Newton’s 2nd law for the vertical 
FT
direction, and solve for the tension force.
 F  FT  mg  ma  FT  m  g  a 

 
FT  1200 kg  9.80 m s 2  0.80 m s 2  1.3  104 N
mg

6. Arlene is to walk across a “high wire” strung horizontally between two buildings 10.0 m
apart. The sag in the rope when she is at the midpoint is 10.0º as shown in Fig. 4. If her
mass is 50.0 kg, what is the tension in the rope at this point?

Fig. 4

S6. Consider the point in the rope directly below Arlene. That point can  
FT FT
be analyzed as having three forces on it – Arlene’s weight, the 10o 10o
tension in the rope towards the right point of connection, and the 
mg
tension in the rope towards the left point of connection. Assuming
 the rope is massless, those two tensions will be of the same magnitude. Since the point is not
accelerating the sum of the forces must be zero. In particular, consider the sum of the vertical
forces on that point, with UP as the positive direction.
 F  FT sin10.0o  FT sin10.0o  mg  0 
mg  50.0 kg   9.80 m s2   1.41 10 N
FT  o
 o
3

2 sin10.0 2 sin10.0

7. One 3.2-kg paint bucket is hanging by a massless cord from another 3.2-kg paint bucket,
also hanging by a massless cord, as shown in Fig. 5. (a) If the buckets are at rest, what is
the tension in each cord? (b) If the two buckets are pulled upward with an acceleration of
1.60 m s 2 by the upper cord, calculate the tension in each cord.

Fig. 5

S7. We draw free-body diagrams for each bucket.

(a) Since the buckets are at rest, their acceleration is 0. Write Newton’s  
FT2 FT1
2nd law for each bucket, calling UP the positive direction.

F 1
 FT1  mg  0 
 

FT1  mg   3.2 kg  9.8 m s 2  31 N  FT1 mg 
mg

F 2
 FT2  FT1  mg  0  Top (# 2) Bottom (# 1)
FT2  FT1  mg  2mg  2  3.2 kg  9.8 m s  2
 63 N

(b) Now repeat the analysis, but with a non-zero acceleration. The free-body diagrams are
unchanged.
 F1  FT1  mg  ma 

FT1  mg  ma   3.2 kg  9.80 m s 2  1.60 m s 2  36 N 
F 2
 FT2  FT1  mg  ma  FT2  FT1  mg  ma  2 FT1  73 N

8. A window washer pulls herself upward using the bucket–pulley apparatus shown in Fig.
6. (a) How hard must she pull downward to raise herself slowly at constant speed? (b) If
she increases this force by 15%, what will her acceleration be? The mass of the person
plus the bucket is 65 kg.
 Fig. 6

S8. The window washer pulls down on the rope with her hands with a tension force FT ,
so the rope pulls up on her hands with a tension force FT . The tension in the rope is 
also applied at the other end of the rope, where it attaches to the bucket. Thus there FT 
FT
is another force FT pulling up on the bucket. The bucket-washer combination thus
has a net force of 2FT upwards. See the adjacent free-body diagram, showing only
forces on the bucket-washer combination, not forces exerted by the combination
(the pull down on the rope by the person) or internal forces (normal force of bucket
on person).
(a) Write Newton’s 2nd law in the vertical direction, with up as positive. The net
force must be zero if the bucket and washer have a constant speed. 
mg
 F  FT  FT  mg  0  2 FT  mg 
mg  65 kg   9.8 m s2   320 N
FT  
2 2
(b) Now the force is increased by 15%, so FT  320 N 1.15   368 N . Again write Newton’s 2nd
law, but with a non-zero acceleration.
 F  FT  FT  mg  ma 
a
2 FT  mg


2  368 N    65 kg  9.80 m s 2   1.5 m s 2

m 65 kg

9. Two objects are connected by a light string that passes over a frictionless pulley, as in
Figure. Draw free-body diagrams of both objects. If the incline is frictionless and if m1 = 2
kg, m2 = 6 kg, and  = 55°, find :
(a) the accelerations of the objects,
(b) the tension in the string,
(c) the speed of each object 2 s after being released from rest.
 Figure

S9 m 1  2.00 kg , m 2  6.00 kg ,   55.0

(a)  Fx  m 2g sin   T  m 2a
and

T  m 1g  m 1a
m g sin   m 1g
a 2  3.57 m s2
m1 m2

(b) T  m 1  a g  26.7 N

(c)  
Since vi  0 , vf  at 3.57 m s2  2.00 s  7.14 m s .