The discussion revolves around determining the potential energy of a uniform string with mass m and length L that has a block of mass M attached to it. Participants explore various aspects of potential energy calculations, including the influence of the string's configuration and the reference height for potential energy.
Participants do not reach a consensus on the correct approach to calculating potential energy, and multiple competing views and uncertainties remain regarding the influence of the string's configuration and the reference height.
Limitations include the need for clarification on the string's orientation and configuration, as well as the reference point for potential energy calculations, which are not fully resolved in the discussion.
How would you find the potential energy of just the string?JCOM44 said:How can I find the potential energy of a string of mass m and length L that has a block of mass M attached to it?
The string is uniform, so I know its center of mass is at L/2.
I tried using the fact that the only force on the string is F=mg, then W=mg*y, and remembering that -∇U=W, I found that U=-½mgy^2, but I feel this is not right because it has no information about the length, am I doing something wrong?phinds said:How would you find the potential energy of just the string?
Potential energy is defined with respect to some reference height. You have the masses of the rope and the weight, so you have two centers of mass to sum for the total GPE. But each has to be some distance above the ground (if that's where you are taking GPE=0 to be), so when you do that sum, the length of the rope will come into play. Makes sense?JCOM44 said:I tried using the fact that the only force on the string is F=mg, then W=mg*y, and remembering that -∇U=W, I found that U=-½mgy^2, but I feel this is not right because it has no information about the length, am I doing something wrong?
JCOM44 said:How can I find the potential energy of a string of mass m and length L that has a block of mass M attached to it? The string is uniform, so I know its center of mass is at L/2.