Which weight will lift first as the rope is pulled?

Re:Which weight will lift first as the rope is pulled? by hop on Friday September 03, 2010 @10:34AM (#1659688)

This tricks people because it doesn't start out in static equilibrium. For it to look like this, the weights would have to be resting on a table to relieve the tension in the rope.

If the man does nothing, the heaviest weight will fall and the lightest will rise. If it's frictionless and he starts pulling, the same thing will happen, only the lengths will lessen.

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Re:Which weight will lift first as the rope is pulled? by EventHorizon on Friday September 03, 2010 @11:57AM (#1659986)

Could it not be in a meta stable equilibrium like this if the weights were of equal mass? The numbers of the weights are unit-less. We assume they represent the mass, but for all I know the number is the serial number of the weight.

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Re:Which weight will lift first as the rope is pulled? by hop on Friday September 03, 2010 @12:06PM (#1660020)

For all we know, it could be in space, they could be heavily magnetized, 100m/s wind, .5 CoF in the pulleys, the rope could stretch, and the system could be traveling near the speed of light.

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