- #1
odie5533
- 58
- 0
Homework Statement
A bunch of bananas hangs from the end of a rope that passes over a light, frictionless pulley. A monkey of mass equal to the mass of bananas hangs from the other end of the rope. The monkey and the bananas are initially balanced and at rest. Now the monkey starts to climb up the rope, moving away from the ground with speed v. What happens to the bananas?
A) They move up at speed 2v
B) They move downward at speed v
C) They move up at speed 1/2 v.
D) They remain stationary
E) They move up at speed v.
The Attempt at a Solution
I chose D. Since the monkey moves up the rope, his mass is still equal to that on the other side. The rope I took to be negligible in mass, as every rope we've used in physics so far has been. The mass of the bananas = the mass of the monkey.
[tex]a = \frac{g(m2 - m1)}{(m1 + m2)}[/tex]
Since the masses do not change, the acceleration is zero, and the ropes themselves do not move.
Is this right? My professor said E is the right answer, but I was wondering if there is an explanation for this.