Calculating Mass and Tension of Stone Suspended from Pulley

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Homework Help Overview

The problem involves a stone suspended from a wire wrapped around a pulley, which is described as a uniform disk. The task is to calculate the mass of the stone and the tension in the wire, given specific parameters such as the mass and radius of the pulley, the distance traveled by the stone, and the time taken for that travel.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Assumption checking, Mathematical reasoning

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants discuss the use of kinematic equations and Newton's second law to find the mass and tension. Questions arise regarding the assumptions of free fall for the stone and the pulley, and the need for a free body diagram is suggested. There is also a focus on correctly calculating the acceleration of the stone.

Discussion Status

The discussion is ongoing, with participants sharing their calculations and questioning the validity of their approaches. Some have provided hints and corrections, particularly regarding the acceleration of the stone, but no consensus has been reached on the final values.

Contextual Notes

Participants are working under the constraints of homework rules, which may limit the information they can share or the methods they can use. There is an emphasis on understanding the dynamics of both the stone and the pulley.

oldspice1212
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A stone is suspended from the free end of a wire that is wrapped around the outer rim of a pulley, as shown in the figure. The pulley is a uniform disk with mass 11.3kg and radius 49.0cm and turns on frictionless bearings. You measure that the stone travels a distance 12.3m during a time interval of 2.50s starting from rest.

1. Find the mass of the stone.

2. Find the tension in the wire.Free fall acceleration = 9.80 m/s^2

Figure: http://tinyurl.com/cpht4rr

I'm not to sure what formula to use for this?
 
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EDIT: Working on it atm, I'll see what I get first.
 
Is the stone or the pulley in free fall?

Hint: draw the free body diagram first.

ehild
 
It's for both of them atm I'm using
S=Ut+1/2at^2
then I will apply Newtons second law mg - T = ma
hopefully this will get me the mass.
 
Ok so I got S = 0 +1/2 (9.8m/s^2)(2.5s)^2 which gave me 30.625
30.625/ 12.3 = 2.489...m/s^2

I manipulated Newtons second law to get T = 1/2M*a
T = 1/2(11.3kg)(2.48...m/s^2)
T = 14.067N

\SigmaF=mg-T=ma
mg-ma = T = m(g-a)
m= T/(g-a)
14N/(9.8m/s^2-2.4...m/s^2) = 1.92kg

How does this look?Mhm got it wrong, not sure where the mistake is though.
 
The stone accelerates with a and s= 1/2 at2, why do you calculate with g?

What about the pulley? Does it move?

ehild?
 
Last edited:
Yes it says "take free fall acceleration to be 9.80 m/s^2"
 
It is the free-fall acceleration, but is not the acceleration of the stone. Calculate the acceleration again.

ehild
 
Dope! Haha thanks for that, I got 3.936 m/s^2 meaning the tension is 22.2384 N.
Therefore the mass comes out to be...3.79 kg.

Thanks a lot! :P
 
  • #10
That is better:smile:

ehild
 

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