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Mechanics 1 help

Hello,

Can someone help me on this question please?

IMG_1867.JPG

I don't understand why for part a you have to treat the whole system as a single particle to find the force R. Why can't you just do it for one particle ?

Is it because of the tension or something because I usually don't include that in my diagrams - I forget...
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Chittesh14
Hello guys,

Can someone help me on this question please?

IMG_1867.JPG

I don't understand why for part a you have to treat the whole system as a single particle to find the force R. Why can't you just do it for one particle ?

Is it because of the tension or something because I usually don't include that in my diagrams - I forget...


I assume it's because of the inextensible string, so the two bricks move as one
Reply 2
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Chittesh14
OP
19
I've understood both parts everybody, sorry!


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Reply 3
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Chittesh14
OP
19
Yeah
Original post by NiamhM1801
I assume it's because of the inextensible string, so the two bricks move as one


Yeah I understood that because it's inextensible, the acceleration of both of the bricks is the same and they move together in the same straight line and therefore you can treat the system as a single particle. However, my method was right but I didn't have tension in my diagram so I couldn't get to the right answer!

I understood why they treated the whole system as a single particle because it is much easier and much much less work which I realised after trying both methods !

Thanks for your help 😉

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