# Finding tension of 2 wires at different angles

1. Oct 12, 2012

A bag of cement of weight 325N hangs from 3 wires as shown in figure (I've attached it). Two of the wires make angle1=60oand angle2=25o with the horizontal. If the system is in equilibrium, determine the tensions of T1, T2, and T3

If you can't see the image, the T1 and T2 are suspended from a horizontal at the angles specified. T1 on the left, T2 on the right. Where they come together T3 is hanging which is attached to the cement with weight 325N. I hope this is helpful.

So I am assuming that T3=325N
I set up the net forces in the y direction as 0=T1sin60+T2sin25-325
That is where I am stuck. I don't understand how to find the tensions from this. I thought about using the forces in the x direction to solve for either T1 or T2 and then substituting that in for one of the other, however that just does not make sense to me. This is my second semester in physics and the first time I took this class this was one of my biggest problems, I just don't know what to do when I get to this point. Thanks for any and all help, I surely appreciate it.

2. Oct 12, 2012

### TSny

Looks good.
Actually, that makes a lot of sense to me! What bothers you about it?

Last edited: Oct 13, 2012
3. Oct 13, 2012

OK. That looks good. The rest is just simplifying the expression. The first two terms on the right can be combined into one term involving T2. Recall that $ax + bx = (a+b)x$. You can boil all those trig functions down to a single number.