Tensions between a Chain of Blocks
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Four blocks initially at rest are joined by a cable. Three of them slide on a table (with coefficient of kinetic friction ) and the fourth hangs from a pulley. You can vary the masses of the first three blocks; the fourth block's mass
is constant at 3 kg. This Demonstration calculates the tensions and acceleration of the components of the system.
Contributed by: Enrique Zeleny (January 2012)
Open content licensed under CC BY-NC-SA
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The equations for the tensions and accelerations are
, where
is the acceleration due to gravity,
,
,
.
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