Hey, I am having trouble coming up with a solution to a problem. I do not know how to set it up, nor do I understand what one of the terms means.
A 2000 kg steel girder is raised by a crane and held in position as shown in the diagram below. Find the tension in the cable OA and the thrust along the boom OB. (Round to the nearest whole number.)
I attached the diagram to this post. http://www.mathhelpforum.com/math-he...1&d=1273077422 this is link incase it doesn't work.
I do not understand what "the thrust along the boom" is. I found a definition saying thrust is "pushing (or compressive) force exerted on the structure". What direction should the vector be in? I do not know how to set up the triangle to find either of these values. I have had similar problems related to something hanging from a ceiling from two cables (I was given the angle of each cable to the ceiling) and I was to find the tension in each cable. All I had to do was make a triangle with the N pushing down on one side, and I knew all the angles so I use the sine law to find each tension.
Can anyone help me in solving this problem? Any help is greatly appreciated!