a ball, m1, is held in place, 30 degrees from the roof it is connected to, from m1 hangs a 2nd ball m2,
1 pendulum connected to another pendulum.
what is the acceleration of the 2nd ball, m2, the moment m1 is released??
my 1st thought was, simply -g, since m1 isnt held anymore, but that's very wrong,
my 2nd thought was, F=ma=mg-t,
then find t using ball m1, but i really am not sure about the assumption nor how to actually find t from m1.
what i need to do is Draw a free body force diagram for m2. Then apply Newtons second law of motion. Then break up the forces into components. Finding the tension in the rope is key to finding the acceleration of m2, but i have no idea how i can do this.
i think that the radial force is =0 since the velocity is 0, is this correct?
please help
I don't know what you mean by the ball being 30 degrees from the roof, so I will not attempt to solve the problem. Are the rope lengths specified?
You are right in assuming you must draw free body digrams for both balls, with the tension force appearing in all equations.
There must be a radial force in the rope to compensate for weight, but there will be no centripetal componsnt if V = 0