Will the burglars be apprehended by the police who are located 20 seconds away?

[remk27]

Homework Statement

Skilled burglars have broken into a prosperous Swiss bank with the
intent of stealing a safe filled with gold. The entire safe, i.e. safe
and gold, weighs one metric ton. The burglars managed to find the
safe and they brought it to a large floor-to-ceiling window. Their
plan is to lower the safe 10.0 m onto a flat-bed truck. To this end:
they stack up 1990 kg of office furniture; tie a rope between the
safe and the furniture; place the rope over a pulley; and lower the
safe out the window

We are to assume that the furniture moves with a
constant velocity and μ^k= 0.35 between the furniture and the floor.


Will the burglars be apprehended by the police who are located 20 seconds away if at the moment they begin to lower the safe the police are notified?

Homework Equations

I honestly don't know how to even approach this question, and am unsure of what equation to use.

The Attempt at a Solution

I am unsure of how to attempt a solution because I'm not exactly sure how to approach this problem. If someone could help walk me through this and explain where to begin, it would be greatly appreciated.

I don't want to be given the answer, because that doesn't help me on the test. But an equation and an explanation as to how the equation applies to this problem would be awesome! Then I can post an attempted solution, and any additional assistance (should I be incorrect) can be provided.

Anyone willing to help me get started with this doozie of a problem would be helping me a ton!

 

[anathema]

it is important to approach problems with a logical and systematic approach. In this case, we can use the principles of Newton's laws of motion to analyze the situation.

The first thing we need to do is to draw a free body diagram of the safe and the furniture. This will help us identify all the forces acting on the system. We can then use Newton's second law, F=ma, to calculate the net force acting on the system.

Next, we need to consider the forces acting on the safe and the furniture as they are being lowered. The force of gravity will be pulling the safe and furniture downward, while the tension in the rope will be pulling them upward. We also need to take into account the friction force between the furniture and the floor, which is given by μ^k= 0.35.

Using these forces, we can calculate the net force acting on the system and determine if it is accelerating or moving at a constant velocity. If the net force is zero, the safe and furniture will be moving at a constant velocity. If the net force is non-zero, then the safe and furniture will be accelerating.

Once we have determined the acceleration of the safe and furniture, we can use the equation d=1/2at^2 to calculate the distance the safe and furniture will travel in 20 seconds. If the distance is greater than 10.0m, then the burglars will not be able to lower the safe onto the truck before the police arrive.

I hope this helps you get started on solving this problem. Remember to always approach problems with a systematic and logical approach, and to use the principles of physics to analyze the situation. Good luck!