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How does a tension lever exert different tensions with only one mass?

Physics Asked by i9100 on December 17, 2020

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This is a diagram of a tension lever. Tension exerted by this tool only depends on where you hang a mass.
Suppose that the gravitational force of a mass is Mg.
If you hang it at 1(in the diagram), T is just Mg.
But if you do it at 2, according to this diagram, T will be 2Mg.

I wonder how this is possible. I managed to think that rotational movement or rotational inertia is kind of involved in it, but I don’t come up with any clear idea.

2 Answers

See the hinge below the string? When you hang a weight on that lever, the contraption wants to rotate around that hinge. The string prevents it from rotating, but it gets stretched in doing so. The torque that the lever applies is directly proportional to the distance that a weight hang​s from the hinge, and that torque becomes tension in the string.

Answered by HiddenBabel on December 17, 2020

I think you can solve this mystery yourself by doing a free body diagram for one of the cases. I chose the 3Mg case below.

FBD

Now balance the forces and moments to find the tension $T$, as well as the pivot reaction forces $A_x$ and $A_y$ in terms of the weight $Mg$.

Answered by John Alexiou on December 17, 2020

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