forces on hanging clothes

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From: Jennie Brotman (jbrotman52@hotmail.com)
Date: Wed Apr 27 2005 - 09:39:51 PDT 

Message-ID: <BAY104-F8141FAF415F44A2532C22CB220@phx.gbl>
From: "Jennie Brotman" <jbrotman52@hotmail.com>
Subject: forces on hanging clothes
Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2005 09:39:51 -0700

Hi all,

A group of my students is inventing a compact hanger contraption that allows
you to hang a lot of things on the hanger at once. They are experimenting
with different metals and materials to see which ones hold up the most
weight and are trying to explain the forces involved. My question is, is
the force the hanger holds the clothes up with called a tension force? Or
is that term reserved for ropes? The clothes push down on the hanger and the
hanger pushes up on the clothes in reaction, right? Would it be accurate to
describe this reaction force as what is balancing out the weight of the
clothes and holding them up? But if that is the case, how do you describe
the situation if the hanger doesn't withstand the weight? I hope i am
making sense...

If anyone could shed some light on how to describe the forces on the clothes
that keep them in (or out) of equilibrium, I'd really appreciate it!

Thank you!
Jennie

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