# Find max tension of the cable

ixbethxi
You've been called to investigate an accident in which a cable broke while lifting a 4500kg container. The steel cable is 2.0cm in diameter and has a safety rating of 50,000N. The crane is designed not to exceed speeds of 3.0m/s or accelerations of 1.0m/s^2, and your tests find the crane is NOT defective. what is your conclusion? did the crane operator life too heavy a load or was the cable defective.

can someone check my solution? i don't know if its right

the max tension the cable can hold is 50,000N

T-((4500kg)*(9.81m/s/s))=4500(1.0m/s/s)

T= 48,645<50,000 which means the cable must of been broken because it could possibly hold more.

Homework Helper
What about speed, vertical or horizontal?

gunblaze
ixbethxi said:
You've been called to investigate an accident in which a cable broke while lifting a 4500kg container. The steel cable is 2.0cm in diameter and has a safety rating of 50,000N. The crane is designed not to exceed speeds of 3.0m/s or accelerations of 1.0m/s^2, and your tests find the crane is NOT defective. what is your conclusion? did the crane operator life too heavy a load or was the cable defective.

can someone check my solution? i don't know if its right

the max tension the cable can hold is 50,000N

T-((4500kg)*(9.81m/s/s))=4500(1.0m/s/s)

T= 48,645<50,000 which means the cable must of been broken because it could possibly hold more.

Yes. You are somehow right.

If u were to work out the acceleration allowed to lift the weight. $$50000-(4500*9.81)= 4500a$$ By working out a, u will get the max acceleration allowed for the lifting of the mass. From there, you can see that the acceleration is more than that of those specified in the qn. Thus, its not that the mass is too heavy but its due to the defective cable.

Homework Helper
ixbethxi said:
... and your tests find the crane is NOT defective. what is your conclusion?...

ixbethxi
i concluded that it waas the cable that was defective