Calculating Static Equilibrium for Ladder Climb

AI Thread Summary
To calculate the maximum height a window cleaner can climb on a ladder without it slipping, one must analyze the forces acting on the ladder, including weight, normal reaction, and friction. A free body diagram is essential for visualizing these forces and understanding the torque involved. The torque is calculated about the point where the ladder touches the ground, considering the ladder's angle and the coefficients of friction. By equating the forces and moments, one can determine the critical point at which the ladder will begin to slip. Properly applying these principles will yield the maximum climbing height for the window cleaner.
PhysicsDud
Messages
24
Reaction score
0
I'm not sure how to go about doing this question. Any help would be great.

A window cleaner of mass 95 kg places a 22-kg ladder against a frictionless
wall, at an angle 65° with the horizontal. The ladder is 10 m long and rests on a
wet floor with a coefficient of static friction equal to 0.40. What is the maximum
length that the window cleaner can climb before the ladder slips?

Thanks!
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Try taking moments about a point.
 
Draw a free body diagram and then find what force is enough for the ladder to slip. Here torqueplays the role. You take a general point on the ladderabove its centre. Find normal reaction, friction, torque, etc. And then equate them with the distance from centreas variable.
 
Sorry here centre of axis is not the centre of ladder, it is the poit at which it touches the surface..
 
Thanks

Thanks so much for the help!
 
I multiplied the values first without the error limit. Got 19.38. rounded it off to 2 significant figures since the given data has 2 significant figures. So = 19. For error I used the above formula. It comes out about 1.48. Now my question is. Should I write the answer as 19±1.5 (rounding 1.48 to 2 significant figures) OR should I write it as 19±1. So in short, should the error have same number of significant figures as the mean value or should it have the same number of decimal places as...
Thread 'A cylinder connected to a hanging mass'
Let's declare that for the cylinder, mass = M = 10 kg Radius = R = 4 m For the wall and the floor, Friction coeff = ##\mu## = 0.5 For the hanging mass, mass = m = 11 kg First, we divide the force according to their respective plane (x and y thing, correct me if I'm wrong) and according to which, cylinder or the hanging mass, they're working on. Force on the hanging mass $$mg - T = ma$$ Force(Cylinder) on y $$N_f + f_w - Mg = 0$$ Force(Cylinder) on x $$T + f_f - N_w = Ma$$ There's also...
Back
Top