Question

A clothesline is tied between two poles, 10 m apart. The line is quite taut and has negligible sag. When a wet shirt with a weight of 0.5 kg is hung at the middle of the line, the midpoint is pulled down 10 cm. Find the tension in each half of the clothesline. (Use g = 9.8 m/s2 for the acceleration due to gravity. Enter your answers from smallest to largest value of the coefficient of i.)

Answer 1

Tension in each half of the clothesline is 25 kg

Explanation:

When the middle of the line is pulled down a right triangle is formed in each half of the rope whose legs measure 0.1 m and 5 m respectively.

Since the rope has an insignificant sag, the measure of the hypotenuse of the triangle is approximately equal to that of the longer leg.

The value of the rope tension is equal to the value of the force applied divided by the sine value of the angle of the rope with the horizontal.

So,

`Sin (a)=(0.1)/(5) = 0.02`

T=
`(0.5 kg)/(0.02)=25kg`