<p>A 200 kg beam is connected by a cable to a 300kg beam below it. The two are raised with an acceleration of .5 m/s^2 by another cable attached to the 200kg beam. Ignoring the masses of the cables, find the tension in each cable.</p>
<p>Thanks, I don't know what to do because i have to ignore the MASSES (?)</p>
<p>Does your class cover both the Mechanics and E&M tests?</p>
<p>No, my teacher said we’ll be covering only Mechanics. please help me…</p>
<p>You only ignore masses of the cables, not of the beams.</p>
<p>^^Crap. We’re doing only mechanics too and we’re just on Motion in Two Dimensions. At least I only need a 3…</p>
<p>You have 4 forces acting on the beam system: Weight of the 200kg beam (W1), weight of the 300 kg beam (W2), tension in the rope above the 200 kg beam (T1), and tension above the 300 kg beam (T2). </p>
<p>I’d asssume, since it is possible to have the rope and the 200kg system and the rope and the 300kg system independent of each other, that the tension of each rope should be equal to the weight of their corresponding beam. [W2 = T2 and W1 = T2]</p>
<p>It’s a shame because I know this but it’s probably too late…</p>
<p>But anyway</p>
<p>The net force on each beam causes it to move upward at .5, which includes canceling gravity, so the upward force on each is 10.3(m) . The tension on the lower cable is the upward force on the bottom bar and the tension on the upper cable is the upward force on the whole system</p>