Cart-Pulley-Hanging Mass Dynamics

[bunchie]

The Setup is the cart-pulley-hanging mass or Atwood machine: if the cart is allowed to fall over the edge, and falls freely with the mass, will the rope tension remain the same as it was before the cart went over the edge? Is this situation the same as if the cart-rope-mass were held aloft by the cart (mass hanging down), and then the cart (and rope and mass) were released? Is this different from the situation where the cart-rope-mass is held horizontally (no tension in rope) and then the cart and mass are released simultaneously?

 

[phinds]

The Setup is the cart-pulley-hanging mass or Atwood machine: if the cart is allowed to fall over the edge, and falls freely with the mass, will the rope tension remain the same as it was before the cart went over the edge? Is this situation the same as if the cart-rope-mass were held aloft by the cart (mass hanging down), and then the cart (and rope and mass) were released? Is this different from the situation where the cart-rope-mass is held horizontally (no tension in rope) and then the cart and mass are released simultaneously?

What do you think and why? (This is not a Q&A forum ... we expect people to give some effort on their own)