SOLUTION: you are hanging over the edge of a cliff. Your two friends throw down a rope and you hold on to the middle. In terms of your weight, what force would each of them have to exert to
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Question 1066153: you are hanging over the edge of a cliff. Your two friends throw down a rope and you hold on to the middle. In terms of your weight, what force would each of them have to exert to pull you up if they could each pull on one end of the rope as they stand side by side? If there is a tree directly above you and they have to stand on either side, what force would each of them have to exert assuming the rope forms a right angle where you are holding it? Found 2 solutions by KMST, ikleyn:Answer by KMST(5328) (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website! This is really a physics problem.
When your two friends stand side by side,
they pull on the ends of the rope in essentially the same direction.
The forces they exert on the rope add up to your weight,
so each one exert a force equal to half of your weight.
If the rope makes a right angle where you are holding it,
the forces they exert on the rope
(which are the same forces that the halves of the rope exert on you)
are not in the same direction. They are at a angle.
The diagram below represents the situation: If you are neither falling nor rising,
the sum of the vectors representing your friends' forces equals your weight,
and the ratio of each force to your weight is
the ratio of the sides of the green square to the square's diagonal.
That according to the Pythagorean theorem is .
