Question

body is suspended from the ceiling with two wires that make an angle of 40° with the ceiling. The weight of the body is 150N. What is the tension in each wire?

Answer 1

The wires are suspended diagonally, meaning the tension in each is directed diagonally as well (along the wire). We can, however, talk about the horizontal and vertical components of the tension force. The horizontal tension force in each wire is Tcosθ, while the vertical tension force is Tsinθ. The horizontal tension forces balance one another, because the wires are pulling in opposite directions. This means Tcosθ=Tcosθ, which is obvious but not very helpful. If you look at the vertical tension forces on the other hand, you can see that they must balance the weight of the body for the system to be in equilibrium. In other words: Tsinθ+Tsinθ=mg You're given enough information in the question to solve for T using this equation!