Forces and laws of motion -- Big gorilla hanging from two vines

AI Thread Summary
The discussion revolves around calculating the tension in vines supporting a 310 kg gorilla hanging at a 30° angle from the vertical. Participants express confusion over the correct formula and the use of cosine in the calculations, particularly why it appears twice in the denominator. The textbook answer for the tension is 1.76 × 10^3 N, but one user arrives at a different value due to misinterpretation of the formula. The importance of drawing a free-body diagram to visualize the forces involved is emphasized as a crucial step in solving the problem accurately. Understanding the forces and angles is essential for correctly determining the tension in the vines.
HiReinhardt
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
About 50 years ago, the San Diego Zoo, in California, had the largest gorilla on Earth: its mass was about 3.10 × 102 kg. Suppose a gorilla with this mass hangs from two vines, each of which makes an angle of 30.0° with the vertical. Draw a free-body diagram showing the various forces, and find the magnitude of the force of tension in each vine. What would happen to the tensions if the upper ends of the vines were farther apart?
I've been trying 310kg * 9.8m/s2/(2)(cos30)*(cos-30). This gives me 3038/1.5 = 2.03*10^3N. The textbook answer is 1.76*10^3. What detail may I possibly be missing?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Why did you divide by cosine twice?
Also, that's one absolute unit of a gorilla :)
 
I was trying to follow the solution my teacher edition gave. I have no idea where the 2 in the denominator came from either. I finally got the solution by adding (Cos30) + (Cos-30) in the denominator.
 
HiReinhardt said:
I was trying to follow the solution my teacher edition gave. I have no idea where the 2 in the denominator came from either. I finally got the solution by adding (Cos30) + (Cos-30) in the denominator.
Working backwards from the given answer is no way to do these problems. Why not try doing as suggested:
problem statement said:
Draw a free-body diagram showing the various forces,
 
Reply
  • Like
Likes HiReinhardt

Thread 'Rolling without slipping on a curved surface'

Kindly see the attached pdf. My attempt to solve it, is in it. I'm wondering if my solution is right. My idea is this: At any point of time, the ball may be assumed to be at an incline which is at an angle of θ(kindly see both the pics in the pdf file). The value of θ will continuously change and so will the value of friction. I'm not able to figure out, why my solution is wrong, if it is wrong .
View full post »
Thread 'Voltmeter readings for this circuit with switches'

Thread 'Voltmeter readings for this circuit with switches'

TL;DR Summary: I would like to know the voltmeter readings on the two resistors separately in the picture in the following cases , When one of the keys is closed When both of them are opened (Knowing that the battery has negligible internal resistance) My thoughts for the first case , one of them must be 12 volt while the other is 0 The second case we'll I think both voltmeter readings should be 12 volt since they are both parallel to the battery and they involve the key within what the...
View full post »
Thread 'Trying to understand the logic behind adding vectors with an angle between them'

Thread 'Trying to understand the logic behind adding vectors with an angle between them'

My initial calculation was to subtract V1 from V2 to show that from the perspective of the second aircraft the first one is -300km/h. So i checked with ChatGPT and it said I cant just subtract them because I have an angle between them. So I dont understand the reasoning of it. Like why should a velocity be dependent on an angle? I was thinking about how it would look like if the planes where parallel to each other, and then how it look like if one is turning away and I dont see it. Since...
View full post »

Similar threads

Finding the Magnitude of Force in each of two vines
Replies
2
Views
2K
Find magnitude of the force of tension?
Replies
1
Views
20K
Weight and Force in a Hanging Cabin
Replies
2
Views
2K
Does Tarzan's Vine Break During His Swing Across the River?
Replies
3
Views
3K

Hot Threads

Recent Insights

Back
Top