Finding acceleration of truck from a hung mass on the ceiling of it.

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Homework Help Overview

The problem involves a mass suspended from the ceiling of a van that is accelerating. The original poster seeks to determine the acceleration of the van based on the angle the string makes with the vertical.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Assumption checking, Conceptual clarification

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • The original poster attempts to resolve the problem using force components and Newton's second law. Some participants suggest visualizing the scenario as a triangle to relate the angle to the acceleration and gravitational force.

Discussion Status

The discussion includes various attempts to analyze the forces involved, with some participants providing insights on how to relate the angle to the acceleration. There is no explicit consensus on the approach, but guidance has been offered in terms of visualizing the problem geometrically.

Contextual Notes

The original poster has provided specific values for the mass and angle, but there may be constraints related to the assumptions about the system, such as the massless nature of the string and the constant acceleration of the van.

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Homework Statement



A mass M = 74.0 kg is suspended by a massless string from the ceiling of a van which is moving with constant acceleration a, as shown in the figure.
1262751-1315-setDynamics_no_friction-prob5--prob24a.gif


If the string makes an angle theta = 22° with respect to the vertical, what is the acceleration a of the van?

Homework Equations



All I can think of is F=ma

The Attempt at a Solution



I found the force of the x component and the y component (-27.72N and 793.8N resp.) I tried 27.72=74.0a=.375m/s^2 and 793.8=74a=10.727m/s^2. I tried adding/substracting tthe answers. I don't know what to try anymore.
 
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tan-1(a/g)=22°

Look it like a triangle. the angle is 22 theta, the vertical component is g, the horizontal is a.
 
Thank-you so much!
 
No-Problem! XD
 

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