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prettydumbguy
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Homework Statement
A man stands on a board of negligible mass with a length of 10m is supported by 2 cables, one on the left on one on the right, with a tension of 300N and 200N respectively. How much does the man weigh in Newtons?
Homework Equations
F=ma
Torque= F*lever arm
The Attempt at a Solution
I'm tempted to just 500, but that's far to simple. I thought of setting up a torque equation, but I don't know how I would when I don't know his mass or where he stands. So, if I assume he's standing x meters from the left: 300(x)-200(10-x) + man(mans location) = 0.
So I set one of the cables as the axis of rotation: the left cable, giving me man(x)=200(10).
Multiply out to get man(x) = 2000.
Now I have two variables I can't get rid of.
But I still really want to just sum all the forces along the y-axis and set it equal to zero: 300 + 200 -man = 0, so I still get 500.
Am I just overthinking the hell out of this?
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