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Ch 07: Newton's Third Law
Chapter 7, Problem 7

A house painter uses the chair-and-pulley arrangement of FIGURE P7.45 to lift himself up the side of a house. The painter's mass is 70 kg and the chair's mass is 10 kg. With what force must he pull down on the rope in order to accelerate upward at 0.20 m/s².

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Key Concepts

Here are the essential concepts you must grasp in order to answer the question correctly.

Newton's Second Law of Motion

Newton's Second Law states that the force acting on an object is equal to the mass of that object multiplied by its acceleration (F = ma). This principle is crucial for understanding how the painter's mass and the chair's mass contribute to the total force required to achieve the desired upward acceleration.
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Tension in a Rope

In a pulley system, the tension in the rope is the force transmitted through the rope when the painter pulls down. This tension must counteract both the gravitational force acting on the combined mass of the painter and the chair, as well as provide the additional force needed for upward acceleration.
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Net Force

The net force is the total force acting on an object after all opposing forces are considered. In this scenario, the net force is the difference between the upward tension in the rope and the downward gravitational force. Understanding net force is essential to calculate the required pulling force for the painter to accelerate upward.
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Related Practice
Textbook Question
A 75 kg archer on ice skates is standing at rest on very smooth ice. He shoots a 450 g arrow horizontally. When released, the arrow reaches a speed of 110 m/s in 0.25 s. Assume that the force of the bow string on the arrow is constant. b. What is the archer's recoil speed?
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Textbook Question
A 2.0-m-long, 500 g rope pulls a 10 kg block of ice across a horizontal, frictionless surface. The block accelerates at 2.0 m/s^2. How much force pulls forward on (b) the rope? Assume that the rope is perfectly horizontal.
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Textbook Question
A rope of length L and mass m is suspended from the ceiling. Find an expression for the tension in the rope at position y, measured upward from the free end of the rope.
720
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Textbook Question
An 85 kg cheerleader stands on a scale that reads in kg. b. What does the scale read if the 85 kg cheerleader lifts the 50 kg cheerleader upward with an acceleration of 2.0 m/s²?
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Textbook Question
FIGURE EX7.17 shows two 1.0 kg blocks connected by a rope. A second rope hangs beneath the lower block. Both ropes have a mass of 250 g. The entire assembly is accelerated upward at 3.0 m/s^2 by force F. (b) What is the tension at the top end of rope 1?

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Textbook Question
A 500 kg air conditioner sits on the flat roof of a building. The coefficient of static friction between the roof and the air conditioner is 0.90. A massless rope attached to the air conditioner passes over a massless, frictionless pulley at the edge of the roof. In an effort to drag the air conditioner to the edge of the roof, four 100 kg students hang from the free end of the rope, but the air conditioner refuses to budge. What is the magnitude of the rope tension at the point where it is attached to the air conditioner?
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