What Are the Forces in Equilibrium for a Weight Hanging on a Rod?

Join the discussion
Registration is free. Start your own thread to ask a follow-up.
3 replies · 2K views
laurids
Messages
3
Reaction score
0

Homework Statement


A light rod is holding a weight with mass m in equilibrium. The rod is attached to the wall with a hinge and a wire as shown on the figure.

http://sveskekat.dk/files/uploads/phys_4.PNG

Problem:
Draw a force diagram of the rod and determine the force with which the hinge affects the rod and the tension force in the wire.

The Attempt at a Solution


I did the force diagram as shown on the figure, with the green arrows as the forces.
I want to determine
The force with which the hinge affects the rod, Fc.
The tension force in the wire, T.

I have that Ww = mg.

I wrote up the conditions for equilibrium,
[tex]\sum F_x = F_c - T cos(45) = 0[/tex]
[tex]\sum F_y = T sin(45) - W_r - mg = 0[/tex]

I do torque around the attachment point on the wall,
[tex]\sum \tau = 2amg + aW_r - aF_c = 0[/tex]

But trying to solve for e.g. [tex]F_c[/tex] now gives me
[tex]F_c = cos(45) \frac{F_c - mg}{sin(45)} = F_c - mg[/tex],
which is kinda bad. What am I doing wrong??
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Physics news on Phys.org
Hi Jay, thanks. I will ignore W_r then. How should the vertical reaction at O look like? Should it be another component, or should it be part of F_c?

Thanks.
 
Call it a component O_y, acting vertical, perpendicular to F_c (which you probably should be referring to as O_x instead of F_c).