The discussion revolves around determining the acceleration of two masses connected by a system of three pulleys. The original poster presents an equation based on Newton's second law, F=ma, and attempts to relate the accelerations of the two masses.
Participants are engaged in clarifying the relationship between the accelerations of the masses, with some suggesting that the constancy of the string length is key to understanding the problem. There is an ongoing exploration of how the lengths of the strings relate to the accelerations, but no consensus has been reached on the specifics.
There is a mention of the need for a free body diagram to further analyze the forces, but participants note that the current discussion focuses on the algebraic relationship rather than the forces acting on the system.
I assume you meant the other way around.Gbox said:
haruspex said:
Do you see how it follows from that?Gbox said:
No I can't understand the forces mapharuspex said:
It's not to do with the forces. Consider the lengths of the three sections of strings. They add up to a constant, and two are always the same as each other. That allows you to express two in terms of the third. Then see how they relate to the two accelerations.Gbox said:
Can you show me the free body diagram of the forces acting in the systemharuspex said:
This thread was about the algebraic relationship between the two accelerations, which has nothing to do with the forces. It follows entirely from the constancy of the total string length.Crystal037 said: