The Student Room Group

M2 Question

[Q6 from M2 june 04 edexcel] = help needed

A uniform ladder AB, of mass m and length 2a, has 1 end of A on ruff horizontal ground. the coefficiect of friction between ladder and ground is 0.6. the other end B of the ladder rests against a smooth vertical wall.

A builder of mass 10m stands at the top of the ladder. To prevent the ladder from slipping, the builder's friend pushes the bottom of the ladder horizontally towards the wall with a force of magnitude P. This force acts in a direction perpendicular to the wall. The ladder rest in equilibirum in a vertical plane perpendicular to the wall and makes an angle * with the horizontal, where tan * = 1.5

a) show that the reaction of wall on the ladder has magnitue 7mg

b) find, in terms of m and g, the range of values of P for which the ladder remains in equilibirum


Thank you
Reply 2
Reply 3
No worries.
One thing worth remembering (not related to this question, i saw this in the examiners notes) is that in hinge questions the direction of the reaction at the hinge is not predetermined. If the June 04 question had a ladder question then it's perfectly possible Jan 05 will have a hinge question.