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Shay10825
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Hello. I was trying to find a way to solve the tension problems without using Newton’s laws. The problem says: A weight of 200 kg is supported by two wires. Find the magnitude of the tension in each wire. The angle in the top left is 35 and the angle in the top right is 41.
I used the law of sines and I said that the weight of 200 must be equal to the sum of the two tensions (u and v) which is (u*sin145 + v*sin41)
u/sin49 = (u*sin145 + v*sin41) / sin76
v/sin55 = (u*sin145 + v*sin41) / sin76
But I can’t solve these two equations and I don’t know why. The answer is u = 155.56 and v = 168.486. The answers work with the equation but for some reason I can’t solve these equations ( I keep getting zero).
How can I solve there to equations to get u = 155.56 and v = 168.486?
Also is there another way to solve these problems (without using Newton’s laws) using geometry or some other complicated way. I’m just playing around with the problems and I understand how to solve them using Newton’s laws. I am just curious.
http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/5670/tension2wf.jpg [Broken]
Thanks
I used the law of sines and I said that the weight of 200 must be equal to the sum of the two tensions (u and v) which is (u*sin145 + v*sin41)
u/sin49 = (u*sin145 + v*sin41) / sin76
v/sin55 = (u*sin145 + v*sin41) / sin76
But I can’t solve these two equations and I don’t know why. The answer is u = 155.56 and v = 168.486. The answers work with the equation but for some reason I can’t solve these equations ( I keep getting zero).
How can I solve there to equations to get u = 155.56 and v = 168.486?
Also is there another way to solve these problems (without using Newton’s laws) using geometry or some other complicated way. I’m just playing around with the problems and I understand how to solve them using Newton’s laws. I am just curious.
http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/5670/tension2wf.jpg [Broken]
Thanks
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