FYKOS Year 29 Series 5 Problem 3 — egyptian gate · FYKOS 29 #29.5.3

Physics · mechanics · thermodynamics

Problem

Ancient Egyptians could build a gate, but they hadn't invented the portcullis yet so they closed the gate with nilans (limestone blocks). There are 150 slaves of mass

m=60\;\mathrm{kg}

, who are at the moment slowly opening a gate closed with a nilan of mass

M=8t

. The nilan fits precisely (air-tightly) into a structure above the gate whose inner dimensions are

a=3\;\mathrm{m}

b=0.5\;\mathrm{m}

and

c=3\;\mathrm{m}

. The original pressure inside the structure is

p_{0}=100kPa

and the original temperature is

T_{0}=300K

. The structure is situated at high

H=3\;\mathrm{m}

above the ground. Find out how high are the slaves able to lift the nilan, using only their own weight if the air temperature stays constant.

Related theory

thermodynamics

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