Person in bucket pulling on rope

  • Thread starter Thread starter matermultorum
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Rope
AI Thread Summary
The discussion revolves around a pulley system where a person in a bucket pulls on a rope to lift themselves. The system is analyzed under the condition of constant velocity, leading to the conclusion that the forces acting on the person and bucket must balance out. The correct tension in the rope is calculated to be 318.5 N, derived from the equation 2T = mg. Clarifications are provided on how to properly draw the free body diagram, emphasizing that the tension acts equally on both ends of the rope. The final understanding is that the person must exert a downward force equal to half their weight to maintain equilibrium.
matermultorum
Messages
7
Reaction score
0
1. I don’t have a diagram to add, but it is a simple system.

1 pulley at the top. On the left is a bucket with a person in it. On the right the rope hangs and the person(in the bucket) is pulling down on the rope with unknown force. The system is moving at constant velocity.

Problem: A person pulls himself up using a bucket and pulley apparatus. How hard must he pull downward on the right to lift himself and the bucket on the left? Mass of bucket/person is 65kg.






2. 2T=mg 2T=65(9.8) T=318.5N


3. Intuitively and from the answer key,I know the answer. I know that the up and down forces are equal because the acceleration is zero. What I don’t know how to draw the free body diagram or how to explain it. There is only one free body diagram, correct? That of the bucket/person?
What are the forces acting on the bucket/person? Here are the two options that get the right answer. Does either one shows correct thinking (I won’t be surprised to find that neither do). Can you help me get the explanations corrected?

FIRST TRY-Forces acting on the bucket/person
Up :Tension in rope T

Down: mg-T directed down because when the person pulls it lessens their weight by the amount of the pull

SECOND TRY-Forces acting on the bucket/person
Up: twice the tension in the rope because there is one pulley and the force going down from the pulley also acts up on the rope on the bucket side

Down: mg


Thank you,
matermultorum
 
Last edited:
Physics news on Phys.org
matermultorum said:
I know that the up and down forces are equal because the acceleration is zero. What I don’t know how to draw the free body diagram or how to explain it. There is only one free body diagram, correct? That of the bucket/person?

There is one free-body diagram for anybody in the system. It can be the person with the bucket, or the pulley, or the bucket itself or the ceiling...This case it is the bucket with the person.
Draw a picture to the problems. It is easy, helps you to understand the problem and show the people what you think.

matermultorum said:
What are the forces acting on the bucket/person? Here are the two options that get the right answer. Does either one shows correct thinking (I won’t be surprised to find that neither do). Can you help me get the explanations corrected?
FIRST TRY-Forces acting on the bucket/person
Up :Tension in rope T
Down: mg-T directed down because when the person pulls it lessens their weight by the amount of the pull

The weight is weight , the tension in a rope does not change the gravitational pull of Earth.

matermultorum said:
SECOND TRY-Forces acting on the bucket/person
Up: twice the tension in the rope because there is one pulley and the force going down from the pulley also acts up on the rope on the bucket side
Down: mg
That is correct.

ehild
 

Attachments

  • bucket.JPG
    bucket.JPG
    4.9 KB · Views: 3,398
Thank you!

Is there a better way to word my explanation?

"twice the tension in the rope because there is one pulley and the force going down from the pulley also acts up on the rope on the bucket side"
 
The force does not "go down from the pulley". The pulley acts on the rope, and the man and the bucket also act on the rope, and the result is some tension in the rope which is the same all along the rope this time. The rope acts at its both ends, with the same force on the bucket/man.

Always draw the forces starting from the object you investigate. Add the forces which act on the same object.
It is enough to say that the tension in the rope acts at both ends on the object with upward forces T, and gravity G acts downward. The resultant force is 2T-G, and as the object moves with constant velocity, the resultant force is zero, that is T=mg/2. The rope pulls the hand of man with mg/2 force upward, so the man has to pull the rope with the same force downward.

ehild
 
I multiplied the values first without the error limit. Got 19.38. rounded it off to 2 significant figures since the given data has 2 significant figures. So = 19. For error I used the above formula. It comes out about 1.48. Now my question is. Should I write the answer as 19±1.5 (rounding 1.48 to 2 significant figures) OR should I write it as 19±1. So in short, should the error have same number of significant figures as the mean value or should it have the same number of decimal places as...
Thread 'A cylinder connected to a hanging mass'
Let's declare that for the cylinder, mass = M = 10 kg Radius = R = 4 m For the wall and the floor, Friction coeff = ##\mu## = 0.5 For the hanging mass, mass = m = 11 kg First, we divide the force according to their respective plane (x and y thing, correct me if I'm wrong) and according to which, cylinder or the hanging mass, they're working on. Force on the hanging mass $$mg - T = ma$$ Force(Cylinder) on y $$N_f + f_w - Mg = 0$$ Force(Cylinder) on x $$T + f_f - N_w = Ma$$ There's also...
Back
Top