Sunday, September 27, 2009

Hanging Chandelier

As I was eating dinner in the kitchen, I noticed the chandelier hanging from the ceiling. I was reminded of the free body diagrams that we drew in physics for similar hanging objects. The free body diagram for the chandelier is shown in the picture, if the mass of the chain could be 0. The only two forces acting on the chandelier is weight, the mass of the chandelier*the acceleration of gravity (9.8 m/s*s), and tension. Weight is directed downwards towards the center of the earth as it always, always, always is. Because the system has no acceleration, the net force is also 0 according to the F=ma (F=net force) equation associated w/ Newton's second law. In order for the net force to be 0, the magnitudes of mg and T must be equal. This observation also relates to Newton's third law because mg and T create a force pair, being that the two forces are equal in magnitude, but opposite in direction. These forces with equal magnitudes and opposite direction allow the chandelier to hang from the ceiling rather than crash to the ground or the ceiling.

1 comment:

  1. Jen you have a chandelier hanging from your ceiling!? :O That's coollllll....

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