- #1
Snoop06
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Homework Statement
A 8.8 kg watermelon and a 7.7 kg pumpkin are attached to each other via a cord that wraps over a pulley, as shown. Friction is negligible everywhere in this system. Find the accelerations of the pumpkin and the watermelon. Specify magnitude and direction.
Homework Equations
F=ma
The Attempt at a Solution
I have tried a few things but can't seem to figure out what I am doing wrong.
First, I am having a hard time remembering trigonometry that may be helpful in determining angles, but I think I have remembered enough to be able to do this correctly.
For the pumpkin I have
mg=75.24N
Fx=75.24sin37=45.41
For the watermelon I have
mg=86.24N
Fx=86.24cos60=43.12
Assuming the pumpkin is going in the negative x direction I get
Sum of Fx=-2.29
And using f=ma I get
2.29=8.8a (for the for the watermelon)
2.29=7.7a (for the pumpkin)
aw=.260m/s^2 up the ramp
ap=.297m/s^ down the ramp
The directions are correct but the values are not. I have also tried with the angles of 53 and 30 in case I had not found those correctly but that did not come out correct either. Am I not able to combine the x direction forces because they are at different angles? Or is it something else I am missing? Thank you for any help.