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The two forces and with magnitudes lb and lb respectively, act on an object at a point as shown in the figure. Find the resultant force acting at as well as its magnitude and its direction. (Indicate the direction by finding the angle shown in the figure.)
Let and be the tensions. By symmetry, their horizontal components cancel and their vertical components are equal. The magnitudes of vertical components of and add up to . Since the chain is at rest, the force must have the same magnitude as that of the force due to gravity, , where . So we can write
, and hence
,
[kg].