A pulley is fixed to a roof, it holds a ladder of some mass on which a man of mass is standing. The other end of the rope carries a counter weight of mass so that the system is at equilibrium. Now the man climbs up with respect to the ladder and stops.
Find the displacement in the center of mass of the system.
Details and Assumptions:
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Let us say that the rope moves some distance x when the man climbs. So the net displacement of the man is 1 5 − x . The ladder, whose mass is 6 0 − 4 0 = 2 0 kg moves a distance x in the downward direction, thus it's net displacement is − x .
The counter weight moves a distance x in the upward direction. Hence the displacement of the centre of mass would be:
Δ r cm = 4 0 + 2 0 + 6 0 4 0 ( 1 5 − x ) + 2 0 ( − x ) + 6 0 ( x ) = 1 2 0 4 0 × 1 5 = 5