A photo frame weighing 4.16 newtons is hanging by a wire making an angle with the horizontal. The tension experienced by both wires is 3 newtons. What angle is made by both wires with the horizontal?

Question

anonymous · Answer

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Since the photo frame is not moving, then the wires have to be cancelling the force due to gravity (the weight).

This means the vertical components of the tension in the wires are going to equal the total weight. Since the wires are symmetric, this weight will be shared evenly. So each wire supports 2.08 N of the weight.

We can then use trigonometry to solve for the angle.

sin(angle) = 2.08 / 3
angle = arcsin(2.08/3) = 43.9 degrees