How would you calculate the tension on a wire?

Question

Thanks for your help.

Answer 1

You need to resolve the forces along the wire. (i.e. if you are pulling the wire at 10 Newtons (and the other end of the wire is fixed in place) then the tension in the wire is 10 Newtons.

I would imagine most questions you deal with will have a wire attached to a spring (and give you the displacement of the spring or the wire). Then to determine the tension in the wire you would need to calculate the force exerted by the spring (i.e. Force of the spring = k * x; where k=spring constant specific to the spring used and x = displacement of the spring).

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Usually you would start by drawing a free body diagram. You question is too vague for a more specific answer. Sorry.