View Full Version : Little needed with homework
nazarip
Oct29-04, 05:37 PM
A 30.3 N child is in a swing that is attached to ropes 2.14 m long. What is the gravitational potential energy when the ropes make a 30.9° angle with the vertical?
So far ive tried 6 different answers ranging between 0-64.8 J and no luck. Need a clue to get me on the right track. Thanks in advance.
You know E_{gravitational potential}=mgh, where h is height off the ground and m is mass. I believe you must assume that when the ropes make an angle of 0 with the vertical h=0. Does that help?
JasonRox
Oct29-04, 09:18 PM
Pretend that its like those incline questions.
nazarip
Oct29-04, 10:33 PM
I did assume that when the angle is zero E=0 and when the angle is 90 E=mgh=64.8, so I thought the answer would be (sin30.9)(mgh), but that answer was incorrect. I also tried (sin59.1)(mgh) which was also incorrect, Im not sure where to go from here.
Well I think when the kid swings up to make a 30.9^\circ with the vertical, his height above the ground is increased. By how much? The answer is
R \cos (30.9^\circ)
So the kid's U=mg(R\cos (30.8^\circ))
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