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Solve question 2 in English
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4 partsOkay Nike🙃, let's solve question 2.
Here's the information given for the non-uniform ladder:
- Length of ladder
- Mass of ladder
- Center of gravity (CG) from the bottom B:
- Angle with the vertical wall: . This means the angle with the horizontal ground is .
- Upper end (A) against a smooth wall (no friction).
- Lower end (B) on rough ground (friction present).
- Acceleration due to gravity .
a) Draw a free body diagram of the ladder.
Imagine the ladder AB leaning against a vertical wall with its base on horizontal ground.
- Draw the ladder inclined at to the horizontal. Label the top end A and the bottom end B.
- Weight (W): A vertical arrow pointing downwards from the center of gravity G. G is located 2.0 m from B along the ladder. The magnitude is .
- Normal force at the wall (): A horizontal arrow pointing away from the wall (to the right), acting at point A. Since the wall is smooth, there is no friction here.
- Normal force at the ground (): A vertical arrow pointing upwards, acting at point B.
- Frictional force at the ground (): A horizontal arrow pointing towards the wall (to the left), acting at point B. This force opposes the tendency of the ladder to slip away from the wall.
b) Calculate:
First, let's calculate the weight of the ladder:
For the ladder to be in equilibrium, the net force and net torque must be zero.
- Sum of forces in the horizontal (x) direction = 0:
- Sum of forces in the vertical (y) direction = 0:
- Sum of moments about point B (bottom of the ladder) = 0: Taking moments about B eliminates and from the moment equation. The weight creates a clockwise moment. The perpendicular distance from B to the line of action of W is . The normal force creates an anti-clockwise moment. The perpendicular distance from B to the line of action of is .
i) The frictional force between the ladder and the ground ().
From Equation 1, .
Rounding to three significant figures:
ii) The resultant force at the bottom of the ladder.
The resultant force at the bottom (point B) is the vector sum of the normal force and the frictional force . Since these forces are perpendicular, we use the Pythagorean theorem.
Rounding to three significant figures:
iii) The coefficient of friction .
Assuming the ladder is in limiting equilibrium (or we are finding the minimum coefficient of static friction required to prevent slipping), the frictional force is given by .
Rounding to three significant figures:
iv) The angle of friction .
The angle of friction is the angle whose tangent is the coefficient of friction.
Rounding to one decimal place:
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