A student is investigating how the forces acting on a bridge vary as the position of a load on the bridge is changed. The bridge is modelled as shown in Fig. 2.1 with two newton-meters providing the support forces.

T₁
newton-meter-
x
A
m
s
T₂
newton-meter
[Figure 2.1]

A load of mass m is placed at a distance x from support A. The readings of the newton-meters T₁ and T₂ are recorded for different values of x.
It is suggested that T₁ – T₂ = mg(s – x) – mgx / s
where s is the separation of the newton-meters and g is the acceleration of free fall.

Q: What topic does this question test?

This question tests Forces, density and pressure in A-Level Physics (syllabus code 9702). It is worth 15 marks.

Q: Which exam paper is this question from?

This question appeared in the Cambridge A-Level Physics Oct/Nov 2017 examination, Paper 5 Variant 1 (9702_w17_qp_51.pdf).

Question

A student is investigating how the forces acting on a bridge vary as the position of a load on the bridge is changed. The bridge is modelled as shown in Fig. 2.1 with two newton-meters providing the support forces.

T₁
newton-meter-
x
A
m
s
T₂
newton-meter
[Figure 2.1]

A load of mass m is placed at a distance x from support A. The readings of the newton-meters T₁ and T₂ are recorded for different values of x.
It is suggested that T₁ – T₂ = mg(s – x) – mgx / s
where s is the separation of the newton-meters and g is the acceleration of free fall.

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