- #1
Electron17
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Homework Statement
Two buckets of nails are hung one above the other and are pulled up to a roof by a rope. Each bucket has a mass of 5.0 kg. The tension in the rope connecting the buckets is 60 N. Calculate the acceleration of the buckets.
Homework Equations
F=ma
F(net)=F(A)+F(g)
The Attempt at a Solution
The first thing I did was add up the two masses of the two buckets to get 10.0 kg. Then, since F(net)=F(A)+F(g), I substituted to get ma=F(A)+mg. I then rearranged for acceleration to get a=F(A)+mg/m. I plugged in the values for a=60 N+(10.0 kg)(-9.81 m/s^2)/10 kg to get 3.8 m/s^2 [down]. The answer is 2.2 m/s^2 [up]. I did notice that if I were to use a value of 5 kg (the mass of a single bucket), I would get the right answer. I suppose my error may have something to do with the fact that the tension is between the buckets, but we have learned nothing about that yet and I might need a bit of information having to do with that.
Any help is greatly appreciated.