Spring problem-perpendicular force

[racast5]

okay so i need help with the problem because my teacher gave it to us today and he doesn't teach the class anything.
it regards a body suspended in between two vertical springs, each in equilibrium, with length L.
he asked us to calculate the amount of required force to pull the body horizontally as if along the x axis, with regards to the angle (theta) with would be created by the initial vertical position of the spring and the new position. THEN he asked us to use a taylor series to show him, something, if anyone has any ideas what that series could prove..help? thanks
i just don't know where to start because he never explained the relations when more than one spring is involved, nor pulling them horizontally with a taylor series proof that that matter. the only equation i know is hooks equation f=-kx

 

[tiny-tim]

Welcome to PF!

it regards a body suspended in between two vertical springs, each in equilibrium, with length L.
he asked us to calculate the amount of required force to pull the body horizontally as if along the x axis, with regards to the angle (theta) with would be created by the initial vertical position of the spring and the new position. THEN he asked us to use a taylor series to show him, something, if anyone has any ideas what that series could prove..help? thanks
… the only equation i know is hooks equation f=-kx

Hi racast5! Welcome to PF!

You can still use Hooke's law …

the force will still be kx, where the x is the new length of the spring minus its original length …

in other words, you have a thin right-angled triangle, and x is the difference in length between the hyptoneuse and the side.

Since this will be √(1 + something), you can use a Taylor series to approximate it.

 

[devon cook]

I still can't get a reply from anyone. Who is out there?
Dev

 

[tiny-tim]

the mother-ship has left us …

I still can't get a reply from anyone. Who is out there?
Dev

There is no-one out there …

we are all alone! ​

 

[devon cook]

You may be right TT. You may be right. Anyway, it's good to make some sort of contact at last. I've been playing around with the maths of a frictionless bead sliding down a parabola y=0.5(x-1)^2 . I got a messy result for its velocity but can't get the same using Hamiltonian mechanics. Anyone done this?
Dev

 

[tiny-tim]

Welcome to PF!

I've been playing around with the maths of a frictionless bead sliding down a parabola y=0.5(x-1)^2 . I got a messy result for its velocity but can't get the same using Hamiltonian mechanics. Anyone done this?
Dev

Hi Dev! Welcome to PF!

I'm no good at Hamiltonian mechanics.

You'd better start a new thread (press the NEW TOPIC button on the sub-forum index page), and put the question there (title it "Hamiltonian mechanics").

(that's because hardly anyone new will look at a thread once it's had several replies … which, incidentally, is a good reason not to "bump" your threads)

 

[devon cook]

Thanks TT,
But I can't find the "sub-forum index page" anywhere.
Dev

 

[tiny-tim]

click!

Hi Dev!

Go to the top of this page, where it says

Physics Help and Math Help - Physics Forums > Science Education > Homework & Coursework Questions > Introductory Physics

and click on the last one!