Forces between two blocks on a frictionless surface

[Carmey]

Homework Statement

A block of mass 7.18 kg lies on a frictionless
horizontal surface. The block is connected
by a cord passing over a pulley to another
block of mass 5.6 kg which hangs in the air, as
shown. Assume the cord to be light (massless
and weightless) and unstretchable and the
pulley to have no friction and no rotational
inertia.

Calculate the acceleration of the first block.
The acceleration of gravity is 9.8 m/s^2
Answer in units of m/s

Homework Equations

Fnet=ma

The Attempt at a Solution

I used the equation Fnet=ma to find my horizontal equation T1-T2+M2G=MA
I then reduced that to M2G=MA since the two tensions are the same
After that I plugged in the numbers to get an acceleration of 9.8m/s^2
But i know this answer isn't right because when i checked it it was wrong

 

[ehild]

Hi Carmey, welcome to PF!

You are right, the tension is the same along the string, so T1=T2.

What did you denote by M2 and what is M? Show your work in detail, please.

ehild

 

[Carmey]

Sorry M2 is the mass of the second block (5.6 kg block) and M is the mass. I just figured out my mistake though, when i had the equation M2G=MA i forgot to use both masses for M. So when i did that I got the right answer of 4.294209703

 

[ehild]

Well done ! But do not forget to add rthe unit (m/s² ), and round off the result to so many significant digits as in the data.


ehild

 

[Carmey]

Ya thanks i got that. I do have another question though if you could help me with that. How would you find the tension in the same problem?

 

[Carmey]

Never mind i got it.