- #1
RainbowMop
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Now, I'm not going to ask anyone to do my assignments. I just want help understanding how to calculate tension so that I can complete my work by myself. I may give examples from my assignments, but I don't want anyone to just work it out and post answers - I want to understand.
I'm new to studying physics so I would appreciate simple explanations that I can understand(I'm in an intro course).
I've read that there isn't a formula for calculating tension and that tension is just a force. Right now I'm working with problems that involve a string under ideal conditions.
Ex. The diagram is displayed as a right triangle with theta in the lower left. Two blocks are connected by a string and tied to a wall. They look like this along the hypotenuse; []-[]-
The mass of both blocks and the value for theta are given. I need to (i)calculate the tension of the string connecting the two blocks, and (ii)the tension in the string tied to a wall.
I first tried to find the x and y components(as it is set up to look like a vector and we have been doing this a lot in class). For the magnitude I added the masses of the blocks, but I don't know if that is right. Then I used cos(theta)*magnitude for x-component, and sin(theta)*magnitude for y-component. Honestly, I'm not too sure if I even need to find the vector components.
I also know that F=m*a. The mass(for part (i)) would be the mass of both blocks and the acceleration would be g=9.81m/s^2?
Basically I've tried this several different ways and I am getting all my tension problems wrong. This is because I don't fully understand the concept of calculating tension and I would appreciate some help.
Thanks.
I'm new to studying physics so I would appreciate simple explanations that I can understand(I'm in an intro course).
I've read that there isn't a formula for calculating tension and that tension is just a force. Right now I'm working with problems that involve a string under ideal conditions.
Ex. The diagram is displayed as a right triangle with theta in the lower left. Two blocks are connected by a string and tied to a wall. They look like this along the hypotenuse; []-[]-
The mass of both blocks and the value for theta are given. I need to (i)calculate the tension of the string connecting the two blocks, and (ii)the tension in the string tied to a wall.
I first tried to find the x and y components(as it is set up to look like a vector and we have been doing this a lot in class). For the magnitude I added the masses of the blocks, but I don't know if that is right. Then I used cos(theta)*magnitude for x-component, and sin(theta)*magnitude for y-component. Honestly, I'm not too sure if I even need to find the vector components.
I also know that F=m*a. The mass(for part (i)) would be the mass of both blocks and the acceleration would be g=9.81m/s^2?
Basically I've tried this several different ways and I am getting all my tension problems wrong. This is because I don't fully understand the concept of calculating tension and I would appreciate some help.
Thanks.