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Question:

Physics Question- Can anyone explain the first two sentences better?

A person hoists a bucket of water form a well and holds one end of the rope, keeping the bucket at rest. A short time later, the person ties the rope to the bucket so that the rope holds the bucket in place. In this case, is the tension in the rope, greater than, less than, or equal to the tension in the first case?The first two sentences confused me so I had trouble answering the question. Can anyone explain them better?

Answer:

The person lifted a bucket of water with a rope and pulley. They waited until it stopped swinging and came to rest. They then tied their end of the rope to the bucket. The bucket was held by one rope (one side of the rope through the pulley), it is now held by 2 ropes (both sides of the same rope through the pulley). How (if any) has the tension in the rope changed? Hint: If the rope was just strong enough (maybe) to lift the bucket, when was it more likely to break, before or after the person tied their end of the rope to the bucket or does it matter?
I'm not sure what they mean. If they mean they hoist the bucket up and tie the rope to a stationary support instead of holding the rope, then the tension is the same. This is true though the support does not exert an active upward force like the human does. It is from the law of action/reation. Some people think that the support is not pulling back on the heavy bucket. While all the time it must in order to satisfy Mr. Newton and his Laws. Put a rope around the trunk of a tree and pull horizontally. Is the tree pulling back? It surely is. Not because the tree is actively exerting a force like a human would in a tug of war but because of Newton's 3rd Law.

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