Add Important Pulleys & Tension

Notes/Cues Here Unit: Forces

Pulleys & Tension

Unit: Forces
NGSS Standards: N/A
MA Curriculum Frameworks (2006): N/A
Skills:
set up & solve problems involving ropes under tension
Language Objectives:
Understand and correctly use the terms pulley and
tension.
Set up and solve word problems involving pulleys and/or
tension.
Notes:
tension: the pulling force on a rope, cable, etc.

pulley: a wheel used to change the direction of tension on a

rope

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 Add Important Pulleys & Tension
Notes/Cues Here Unit: Forces
A typical problem involving pulleys and tension might be to find
the acceleration of blocks m1 and m2 in the following situation.
(Assume the surface and the pulley are frictionless.)

Free-body diagrams for the two masses would look like the
following:

m1 m2
We know the following:
Fnet m1a
F T is the net force on m 1. Therefore, for m 1, .
For m2, gravity and tension are pulling in opposite
F F F m2a
directions. The net force is therefore net g T
Because the blocks are connected, both F T and a must be
the same for both blocks.

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Physics Mr. Bigler

 Add Important Pulleys & Tension
Notes/Cues Here Unit: Forces
Sample Problem:
Q: Suppose we had the following situation:

Calculate the acceleration of the pair of blocks.

A: For the block on the table:

FT ma (5)(a)

For the block hanging from the pulley:

Fnet Fg FT ma (2)(a)
(2)(9.8) FT 2a
19.6 FT 2a

Now we substitute FT 5a into the second equation:

19.6 5a 2a
19.6 7a
19.6
a 2.8sm2
7

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Physics Mr. Bigler