A block and a pulley


Mass of the block
0.1 kg 2.0 kg
1.0
Mass of the pulley
0.0 kg 2.0 kg
1.0
The pulley is a

The simulation shows a block connected to a string passing over a pulley.

Given the limits on the sliders in the simulation (and the choice of pulley), and the fact that the simulation uses 10.0 m/s/s for g, what are the largest and smallest values that can be obtained for the block's acceleration?

Note that the pulley has two additional forces that are not shown. These are the downward force of gravity, and the upward normal force (which must balance the downward forces) - they are omitted because, passing through the center of the pulley, they do not contribute to the torque about the center.

Simulation first posted on 8-26-2016. Written by Andrew Duffy

Creative Commons License
This work by Andrew Duffy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
This simulation can be found in the collection at http://physics.bu.edu/~duffy/classroom.html.

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