A 115 kg scaffold is 6 m long. It is hanging with two wires, one from each end. A 540 kg box sits 1.8 m from the left end. What is the tension in the right hand side wire?(g = 9.8 m/s2)
this is a torque question with two unknowns i.e. the two tension forces in the wires. to find the tension in the right one, let the pivot point be at the connection of the wire (the left one) and the scaffold. Then the following calculation: let T=tension in right wire r=the lever arm length the angle is 90 so no need to worry about the angle as sin90=1 sum of the anticlockwise moments=sum of the clockwise moments 6T=540x9.8x1.8+3x115x9.8 T=2151.1N (upwards) draw a diagram it helps you to see the question more clearly
