= Atwood machine
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= Atwood's machine
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An <Atwood machine> couples two hanging <masses> by an inextensible <mechanical string> over a <pulley>. With ideal massless hardware, <Newton's second law> gives the downward <acceleration> of the heavier <mass> as $a=g(m_2-m_1)/(m_1+m_2)$. To prove it, write $m_2g-T=m_2a$ and $T-m_1g=m_1a$, then add. The apparatus associated with <George Atwood> turns a small difference of weights into slow, measurable <acceleration>.
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