Harry the painter swings year after year from his bosuns chair. His weight is 500 N and the rope unknown to him has a breaking point of 300 N.

 

1. Harry the painter swings year after year from his bosuns chair. His weight is 500 N and the rope unknown to him has a breaking point of 300 N. Why doesn't the rope break when he is supported as shown on the right ? One day Harry is painting near a flagpole and for a change, he ties the free end of the rope to the flagpole instead of to his chair, as shown on the left.

Answer

I believe it is because when the rope his fastened to his bosuns chair it supports twice as much weight, so instead of supporting 300 N it would be 600 N and sense his weight is 500 N it will not break. Yet when Harry ties it to the flagpole the weight is no longer supported by 600 N because it now is only supporting 300 N. Harry fell off the building that is why he took his vacation early.