10/4/2017 MasteringPhysics: Assignment 3 - Forces Part One
ApplyingNewton's2ndLaw
LearningGoal:
TolearnasystematicapproachtosolvingNewton's2ndlawproblemsusingasimpleexample.
OnceyouhavedecidedtosolveaproblemusingNewton's2ndlaw,[Link]
prescriptionisthefollowing:
Visualizetheproblemandidentifyspecialcases.
Isolateeachbodyanddrawtheforcesactingonit.
Chooseacoordinatesystemforeachbody.
ApplyNewton's2ndlawtoeachbody.
Writeequationsfortheconstraintsandothergiveninformation.
Solvetheresultingequationssymbolically.
Checkthatyouranswerhasthecorrectdimensionsandsatisfiesspecialcases.
Ifnumbersaregivenintheproblem,plugtheminandcheckthattheanswermakessense.
Thinkaboutgeneralizationsorsimplficationsoftheproblem.
Asanexample,wewillapplythisproceduretofindtheaccelerationofablockofmassm2 thatispulledupafrictionlessplane
inclinedatanglewithrespecttothehorizontalbyaperfectstringthatpassesoveraperfectpulleytoablockofmassm1 that
ishangingvertically.
Visualizetheproblemandidentifyspecialcases
[Link]'s2ndlaw, F = ma,toeachbody
[Link]'[Link]:Howaretheseconsistentwith
thedirectionoftheaccelerationforthatbody?Canyouthinkofanyspecialcasesthatyoucansolvequicklynowandusetotest
yourunderstandinglater?
Onespecialcaseinthisproblemisifm2 = 0 ,inwhichcaseblock1wouldsimplyfallfreelyundertheaccelerationofgravity:
^
a1 = g j .
PartA
Consideranotherspecialcaseinwhichtheinclinedplaneisvertical( = /2 ).Inthiscase,forwhatvalueofm1 wouldthe
accelerationofthetwoblocksbeequaltozero?
Expressyouranswerintermsofsomeorallofthevariablesm2 andg.
ANSWER:
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10/4/2017 MasteringPhysics: Assignment 3 - Forces Part One
m1 = m2
Correct
Isolateeachbodyanddrawtheforcesactingonit
AforcediagramshouldincludeonlyrealforcesthatactonthebodyandsatisfyNewton'[Link]
arerealistodetrminewhethertheyarepartofaNewton's3rdlawpair,thatis,whethertheyresultfromaphysicalinteraction
thatalsocausesanoppositeforceonsomeotherbody,[Link]
components,anddonotincluderesultantforcesthatarecombinationsofotherrealforceslikecentripetalforceorfictitiousforces
likethe"centrifugal"force.
Assigneachforceasymbol,butdon'tstarttosolvetheproblematthispoint.
PartB
Whichofthefourdrawingsisacorrectforcediagramforthisproblem?
ANSWER:
Correct
Chooseacoordinatesystemforeachbody
Newton's2ndlaw, F = ma,[Link]
[Link],thevectorequality
holdsinanycoordinatesystem,givingyoufreedomtopickacoordinatesystemthatmostsimplifiestheequationsthatresult
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fromthecomponentequations.
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10/4/2017 MasteringPhysics: Assignment 3 - Forces Part One
It'[Link]
thereisnoacceleration,[Link]
thatliealongtheaxesappearinonlyoneoftheequationsforeachcomponent,ratherthanintwoequationswithtrigonometric
[Link].
Inthisproblem,youshoulduseCartesiancoordinatesandyouraxesshouldbestationarywithrespecttotheinclinedplane.
PartC
Giventhecriteriajustdescribed,whatorientationofthecoordinateaxeswouldbebesttouseinthisproblem?
Intheansweroptions,"tilted"meanswiththexaxisorientedparalleltotheplane(i.e.,atangletothehorizontal),
and"level"meanswiththexaxishorizontal.
ANSWER:
tiltedforbothblock1andblock2
tiltedforblock1andlevelforblock2
levelforblock1andtiltedforblock2
levelforbothblock1andblock2
Correct
ApplyNewton's2ndlawtoeachbody
PartD
Whatis F2x ,thesumofthexcomponentsoftheforcesactingonblock2?Takeforcesactinguptheinclinetobe
positive.
ExpressyouranswerintermsofsomeorallofthevariablestensionT ,m2 ,themagnitudeoftheaccelerationof
gravityg,and.
Hint1.Decomposetheforceofgravityonblock2
Inthisproblem,[Link]
magnitudeoftheweightism2 [Link],usingatiltedcoordinatesystem
whosexaxisisparalleltoandpointinguptheinclinedplane.
Expresstheforceofgravityonblock2,F g2 ,intermsofsomeorallofthevariablesm2 ,g,[Link]
youranswerasavectorintermsoftheunitvectors^i and^
j.
ANSWER:
^ ^
F g2 = m 2 g(sin() i + cos() j )
ANSWER:
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10/4/2017 MasteringPhysics: Assignment 3 - Forces Part One
m 2 a2x = F 2x = T m 2 gsin()
Correct
PartE
Nowdeterminem1 a1y = F 1y ,[Link]
aspositive.
ExpressyouranswerintermsofsomeorallofthevariablesT ,m1 ,andg.
ANSWER:
m 1 a1y = F 1y = T m1 g
Correct
PartF
Writeequationsfortheconstraintsandothergiveninformation
Inthisproblem,thefactthatthelengthofthestringdoesnotchangeimposesaconstraintonrelativeaccelerationsofthe
twoblocks.Findarelationshipbetweenthexcomponentoftheaccelerationofblock2,a2x ,andtheaccelerationofblock1.
Paycarefulattentiontosigns.
Expressa2x intermsofa1x and/ora1y ,thecomponentsoftheaccelerationvectorofblock1.
[Link]
Ifblock2hasanaccelerationa2x uptheincline,musttheaccelerationofblock1beupwardordownwardtokeepthe
stringtaut?
ANSWER:
a2x = a1y
Correct
PartG
Solveandcheck
Inthepreviousparts,youobtainedthefollowingequationsusingNewton's2ndlawandtheconstraintonthemotionofthe
twoblocks:
m 2 a2x = T m 2 g sin(), (1)
m 1 a1y = T m 1 g, (2)
and
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10/4/2017 MasteringPhysics: Assignment 3 - Forces Part One
a2x = a1y . (3)
Solvetheseequationstofinda1y .
Beforeyouenteryouranswer,makesureitsatisfiesthespecialcasesyoualreadyidentified:
a1y = g ifm2 = 0and
a1y = 0ifm 1 = m 2 and = /2 .
Alsomakesurethatyouranswerhasdimensionsofacceleration.
Expressa1y intermsofsomeorallofthevariablesm1 ,m2 ,,andg.
[Link]
SubstituteforT fromequation(1)intoequation(2)andthenusea2x fromequation(3)inthenewequation(2).This
willyieldalinearequationina1y thatiseasytosolve.
ANSWER:
m 2 gsin()m 1 g
a1y =
m 1 +m 2
Correct
Canyouseehowasimplegeneralizationoftheproblemcouldbesolvedwithalittleextraworkorhowyoucouldsolve
anontrivialproblemthatisasubsetofthisone?
Forexample,[Link]
additionalforceonblock2:Ff 2 = N ,wherethenormalforceN isgivenbyN = m2 g cos().
Thisadditionalforcewouldleadtoanewtermintheexpressionfortheaccelerationofblock1:
m 2 sin()m 2 cos()m 1
a1y = g.
m 1 +m 2
Now,bychoosingwhetherornot = 0 ,youhavearesultthatcanbeappliedwhethertheplaneisfrictionlessornot!
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