Try it on paper first. A hint, the key idea and the worked solution are here when you need them.
A fixed horizontal cylinder has a rough surface. A light rope lies over the top half of the cylinder, at right angles to its axis, and hangs straight down on both sides. Block P of mass hangs from the left end of the rope, and block Q of mass from the right end, as shown in the figure. The coefficient of friction between the rope and the cylinder is , both for sticking and for sliding. Take .
Have you tried it?
Work it out on paper first. It is fine to get stuck or make a mistake: that is how we learn. When you are ready, go through the solution one step at a time, and check each step against your own.
Plan. Find how fast the tension grows round the cylinder by looking at a tiny piece of rope. Then use Newton's second law for each block.
Step 1. A tiny piece of rope. Take a piece that covers a small angle . Its ends are pulled by and . Each pull is tilted towards the cylinder by , so together they press the piece onto the cylinder with . On the point of slipping, friction on the piece is , and it balances the difference of the pulls:
Step 2. Add up the pieces. . Integrate from the low-tension end to the high-tension end: , so . If the rope is about to slip towards Q instead, friction acts the other way, and . Here , and .
Step 3. At rest. Each block hangs at rest, so the tension on its side equals its weight. The rope does not slip as long as the larger tension is at most times the smaller one:
Step 4. Sliding. With , more than , P goes down and Q goes up, both with acceleration . The rope is light, so Step 2 still holds with sliding friction: .
Put into the first equation and solve for :
Then and .
Answer: (b) . (c) ; the tension is on the side of P and on the side of Q.
Check. For P: , and .
Watch out. The friction here is not times one fixed normal force: the rope presses harder where its tension is larger, so friction grows along the rope. That is why a block can hold up more than twice its own mass on the other side. Sailors use the same effect to hold a heavy boat with a few turns of rope round a post.
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