Question

A uniform ladder, 3 m long and weighing 130 N, placed against a smooth wall, its lower end being 1.80 m from the wall. A 700N man stands on the upper most rung of the ladder located 0.45 m from the upper end of the ladder. a.) What are the vertical and horizontal forces exerted by the ground on the ladder? b.) What is the coefficient of friction between the ladder and the ground?

Answer 1

draw the diagram. AT the uppermost contant point, only a normal force into the will exists. At the bottom, both normal, and horizontal (friction) exists.
at the center of the ladder, its weight force exists, downward. The man has weight at his center of gravity, act downward.

Sum the vertical forces, they equal zero.
Sum the horizntal forces,they sum to zero.
sum the moments about any point, I recommned the top of the ladder.

you have three unknowns (fh at top, fh at bottom (friction), and fv at the bottom) and you have three equations, so it is solvable.

Answer 2

174N&40N