I have drawn the two free bodies for this problem, calculated the net force, and the acceleration of the system due to the net force and used that to calculate the tension.. any help?
A hanging mass, M1 = 0.481 kg, is attached by a light string that runs over a frictionless pulley to a mass M2 = 1.79 kg that is initially at rest on a frictionless ramp. The ramp is at an angle of θ = 30.7° above the horizontal, and the pulley is at the top of the ramp. Find the magnitude and direction of the acceleration, a2, of M2. Take a positive result to be "up the ramp" and a negative result to be "

Question

I have drawn the two free bodies for this problem, calculated the net force, and the acceleration of the system due to the net force and used that to calculate the tension.. any help?
A hanging mass, M1 = 0.481 kg, is attached by a light string that runs over a frictionless pulley to a mass M2 = 1.79 kg that is initially at rest on a frictionless ramp. The ramp is at an angle of θ = 30.7° above the horizontal, and the pulley is at the top of the ramp. Find the magnitude and direction of the acceleration, a2, of M2. Take a positive result to be "up the ramp" and a negative result to be "

anonymous · Answer

|dw:1379394815046:dw|
$$T-m1g=m1a$$
m2gsin30.7-T=m2a
so,
$$a=\frac{ m2gsin30.7-m1g }{ m1+m2 }$$
sin30.7=0.5078
so a=
$$\frac{(0 .9089-0.481) *9.8}{ 2.271 }$$
a=1.847 m/s2, downward along the plane