Pulleys, ropes & masses

Some diagrams of basic physics problems involving masses, springs, ropes and pulleys with forces and tension. For more related figures, please see the “forces” or “Newton’s laws” tag.

With a pulley, you can using your body weight to your advantage to make it easier to lift a mass:

Block and tackle with a snatchblock:

Atwood machine:

Three masses hanging from two pulleys:

Force diagrams for the three tensions in the rope suspending the middle mass:

The ropes make a right angle if the tensions have a 4:5:3 ratio:

Edit and compile if you like:

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% Author: Izaak Neutelings (September 2020)
% Inspiration: https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/25531/adding-underbrace-in-tikz
\documentclass[border=3pt,tikz]{standalone}
\usepackage{physics}
\usepackage{siunitx}
\usepackage{ifthen}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{calc}
\usetikzlibrary{angles,quotes} % for pic
\usetikzlibrary{patterns,snakes}
\tikzset{>=latex} % for LaTeX arrow head
\colorlet{xcol}{blue!85!black}
\colorlet{vcol}{green!60!black}
\colorlet{myred}{red!65!black}
\tikzstyle{vvec}=[->,vcol,thick,line cap=round]
\tikzstyle{ground}=[preaction={fill,top color=black!10,bottom color=black!5,shading angle=20},
                    fill,pattern=north east lines,draw=none,minimum width=0.3,minimum height=0.6]
\tikzstyle{metal}=[fill,top color=black!40,bottom color=black!20,shading angle=10]
\tikzstyle{mass}=[line width=0.6,red!30!black,fill=red!40!black!10,rounded corners=1,
                  top color=red!40!black!20,bottom color=red!40!black!10,shading angle=20]
\tikzstyle{pulcol}=[draw=blue!30!black,%fill=blue!40!black!10
                    top color=blue!40!black!20,bottom color=blue!40!black!10,shading angle=20]
\tikzstyle{rope}=[brown!70!black,very thick,line cap=round]
\def\rope#1{ \draw[black,line width=1.5] #1; \draw[rope] #1; }
\tikzstyle{mount}=[blue!20!black,fill,top color=blue!20!black!70,bottom color=blue!20!black!40,shading angle=10] %,line width=1.8,line cap=round
%\tikzstyle{mount}=[color=black!60,line width=1.8,line cap=round]
\tikzstyle{spring}=[line width=0.8,black!80,snake=coil,segment amplitude=5,segment length=5,line cap=round]
\pgfdeclarelayer{back} % to draw on background
\pgfsetlayers{back,main} % set order
% FORCES SWITCH
\tikzstyle{force}=[->,myred,thick,line cap=round]
\newcommand{\vbF}{\vb{F}}
\newcommand{\vbT}{\vb{T}}
\newboolean{showforces}
\setboolean{showforces}{true}
\newcommand\rightAngle[4]{
  \pgfmathanglebetweenpoints{\pgfpointanchor{#2}{center}}{\pgfpointanchor{#3}{center}}
  \coordinate (tmpRA) at ($(#2)+(\pgfmathresult+45:#4)$);
 
 
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Click to download: dynamics_pulley.tex • dynamics_pulley.pdf
Open in Overleaf: dynamics_pulley.tex