Tutorial details

For this tutorial students should state the type of force (normal, frictional, gravitational), the object exerting the force, and the object on which the force is exerted.

Section I: Blocks connected by a rope

Students consider two blocks of unequal mass connected by a rope of mass $M$. A hand exerts a constant force on one of the blocks while the rope pulls the other block along. Students sketch free body diagrams for the rope and blocks, then rank the horizontal components of the forces.

Section II: Blocks connected by a very light string

The rope is replaced with a very light string and the hand pushes on one block so that the motion of the system is the same as before. In Questions A-D, students are led to recognize that the forces exerted by the ends of the string are more nearly equal to each other in the case of the light string than in the case of the rope. In Question E, students justify the use of a single value for the tension in a massless string.

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Prerequisite tutorials

The Newton's second and third laws tutorial is a prerequisite to Tension.

Other prerequisites

Newton’s second and third laws should have previously been covered in lecture.

Equipment

List

• tutorial instructor slides
• tutorial student slides or worksheet

Discussion