A 26 kg person climbs up a uniform ladder with negligible mass. The upper end of the
ladder rests on a frictionless wall. The bottom
of the ladder rests on a floor with a rough
surface where the coefficient of static friction
is 0.58 . The angle between the horizontal and
the ladder is θ . The person wants to climb up
the ladder a distance of 2.4 m along the ladder
from the ladder’s foot.
26 kg
2.4 m
3.3 m
θ
b
µ = 0.58
µ = 0
What is the minimum angle θmin (between
the horizontal and the ladder) so that the
person can reach a distance of 2.4 m without
having the ladder slip? The acceleration of
gravity is 9.8 m/s
2
.
Answer in units of ◦
.