Question

A 2.6 m long, 16 kg piece of plywood is sitting on a pair of sawhorses. The sawhorses are .3 m from the left end and .5 m in from the right end of the plywood. A 4 kg circular saw is sitting 1 m in from the left end of the plywood. How much force is each sawhorse applying? Assume the plywood is of uniform constant.

Again, I'm lost. Any help is much appreciated.

Answer 1

A 2.6 m long, 16 kg piece of plywood is sitting on a pair of sawhorses. The sawhorses are .3 m from the left end and .5 m in from the right end of the plywood. A 4 kg circular saw is sitting 1 m in from the left end of the plywood. How much force is each sawhorse applying? Assume the plywood is of uniform constant.
.............6.1538kg/m
...............\/
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....../\.....\/.........../\
..3m..Rl.7m.4kg...1.8m....Rr.5m

Rl and Rr are the left and right reactions respectively.
Taking the summation of moments about the left reaction, we have

-.3(6.1538).15 + 4(.7) + 2.3(6.1538)1.15 - 1.8rR.
Solve for Rr.

Take the summation of vertical forces to derive the left reaction.
......RL................Rr