A man of mass 82 kg is using crutches. the crutches make an angle of 26 degrees with the vertical. Half the person's weight is supported by the crutches. Assuming that the person is at rest, find the magnitude of the force supported by each crutch.

Question

the way i did this question was first i divided the weight by 2 since only half the weight is supported by the crutches and drew the free body diagram according to that. Now the force of the crutches is at an angle so we have to use vector components. I just used the y component of this force which was (F_T)(cos26). Also, the force of gravity is also acting on the body's weight, which came out to be: F_g = (41)(-9.8).
So,
Fnet y = (F_g) + (F_T)(cos26)

i got my answer for F_T to be 447 N.

Can someone please confirm if this is the right way to do this question and whether this answer is correct? Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

See:
http://www.jiskha.com/display.cgi?id=1254087789