Harry the painter swings year after year from his bosuns chair.

[pbody]

1. Harry the painter swings year after year from his bosuns chair. His weight is 500 N and the rope unknown to him has a breaking point of 300 N. Why doesn't the rope break when he is supported as shown on the right ? One day Harry is painting near a flagpole and for a change, he ties the free end of the rope to the flagpole instead of to his chair, as shown on the left. Why did Harry end up taking his vacation early?



2. 300 N & 500 N



3. I believe it is because when the rope his fastened to his bosuns chair it supports twice as much weight, so instead of supporting 300 N it would be 600 N and sense his weight is 500 N it will not break. Yet when Harry ties it to the flagpole the weight is no longer supported by 600 N because it now is only supporting 300 N. Harry fell off the building that is why he took his vacation early.

 

[azizlwl]

When connected to the pulley, 2 forces(2 cables) counteract the gravity.
2T=mg
Tension = mg/2

When connected to a flag pole, only one cable to counteract the gravity.
T=mg
since mg>300N(breaking point), the rope will be snapped.