Thread: Tension

g to be assumed to be 10m/s

A car of mass 800kg is towing a trailer of mass 400kg up a hill of inclination x where sinx = 1/20. The trailer is connected to the car by a towbar which is parallel to the direction of hte motion. At a given instance, the speed of both vehicle is 7m/s and both accelerating at 0.1ms-2. At this instance the power of the car engine is 14KW and the resistance to the motion of the car is 300N.

Show the tension in the tow bar is 1220 N

Resistance to the motion of the trailer..

Im all confused, i dont seem to understand the concept of tension at all....

I know P = f s
so that gives me 14 000/7 = 2000 N

But it's on an inclined surface so i guess you gotta do something to it...
considering the resistance is 300N so gotta subtract it right ?
giving me 1700 N ?

Originally Posted by ramzel

g to be assumed to be 10m/s

A car of mass 800kg is towing a trailer of mass 400kg up a hill of inclination x where sinx = 1/20. The trailer is connected to the car by a towbar which is parallel to the direction of hte motion. At a given instance, the speed of both vehicle is 7m/s and both accelerating at 0.1ms-2. At this instance the power of the car engine is 14KW and the resistance to the motion of the car is 300N.

Show the tension in the tow bar is 1220 N

Resistance to the motion of the trailer..

Im all confused, i dont seem to understand the concept of tension at all....

I know P = f s
so that gives me 14 000/7 = 2000 N

But it's on an inclined surface so i guess you gotta do something to it...
considering the resistance is 300N so gotta subtract it right ?
giving me 1700 N ?

P = F v

F = (14 kW)/(7 m/s) = 2000 N up the hill

F{net} = ma

F - T - R - mg sin(x) = ma

2000 - T - 300 - 800(10)(1/20) = 800(0.1)

T = 1220 N