Pendulum problem only the rope breaks

[drmumma]

Alrighty this problem is making me crazy.
A guy is swinging on a swing where the height above ground=2ft., the length of rope=8ft., mass of guy=100kg and theta=30 degrees. The rope breaks when he is close to the ground... what is the distance that he will land on the ground?
I am so lost, I don't even have a solution in 3 physics books I have...
Do we need arc length at all and convert it to radians... possibly find acceleration?

 

[The legend]

Ok, so what's the relation between radians and degrees? ( I prefer radians because they are used as standard measure...you can do it with degree measure too.)

And then find the max height to which the swing rises, use conservation of energy to find the velocity at the instant the man drops from the swing. Then solve using equations of motion.

 

[drmumma]

You are my hero! ok awesome so find acceleration via conservation of energy then use perhaps a physical pendulum equation? or simple pendulum equation?

 

[The legend]

so find acceleration via conservation of energy?

no, velocity when the man leaves the swing.

physical pendulum equation?

no, read my above post carefully.
Use the projectile and linear motion equations.

 

[rwisz]

I understand your frustration with this problem. It can be challenging to solve without all the necessary information. In this case, we would need to know the initial velocity of the swing and the angle at which the rope breaks in order to accurately calculate the distance the person will land on the ground.

However, based on the given information, we can make some assumptions and estimates to arrive at an approximate answer. We can assume that the person's initial velocity is close to zero as they are close to the ground when the rope breaks. We can also assume that the angle at which the rope breaks is close to 90 degrees, as the person is close to the ground.

Using these assumptions, we can calculate the acceleration due to gravity and use it to calculate the distance the person will fall in the time it takes for the rope to break. This will give us an approximate answer to the problem.

Alternatively, we can also use the concept of conservation of energy to solve this problem. We can calculate the potential energy at the highest point of the swing and equate it to the kinetic energy at the point where the rope breaks. This will give us the velocity at the point where the rope breaks, which we can then use to calculate the distance the person will fall.

In summary, while we may not have all the necessary information to solve this problem accurately, we can still use scientific principles and assumptions to arrive at an approximate answer. It is important to remember that in real-life situations, there are often variables that we cannot control or measure accurately, and we must make assumptions and estimations to solve problems.