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[Phys-l] nifty question



I've been thinking lately about hanging cables. I came across the following neat question (which has a simple answer).

Consider an ideal (ie. cannot stretch, and can bend freely) cable suspended from two points of equal height (that are closer together than the cable's length). The cable adopts the shape of a catenary (hyperbolic cosine).

Now suppose you hang a weight from the center of the cable. Does the cable's center of mass move up, down, or remain at the same height?

Have fun thinking about it! If you see the simple solution, don't give it away too quickly! -Carl
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Carl E Mungan, Assoc Prof of Physics 410-293-6680 (O) -3729 (F)
Naval Academy Stop 9c, 572C Holloway Rd, Annapolis MD 21402-1363
mailto:mungan@usna.edu http://usna.edu/Users/physics/mungan/