Question

A pulley is massless and frictionless. 3 kg, 2 kg (on the left), and 6 kg (on the right) masses are suspended What is the tension T1 in the string be-
tween the two blocks on the left-hand side
of the pulley?


Can I solve this like if it was two masses?

My prof gave an example T=m1g=m1a
m2g-t+m2a
then we solved for T in equation one and plugged it into equation two... in that problem the Tension was the same on both sides but in the picture on the problem they have labeled them T1, T2 and T3 so I'm not sure

Answer 1

T2 and T3 (around the pulley) should be equal. You can use this to solve for the tension=T2=T3 just like the prof's example.

After that, use the same principle to solve for T1 between masses m1 and m2.
Note that m2 is pulled with a tension of T=T2=T3.