Question

Your dad is hanging Christmas lights above the garage. You notice that the ladder is old and is wood. The ground is concrete and the coefficient of friction between the wood and concrete ground is 0.30. The ladder leans against a frictionless wall to the second window. The height of the window is 8m. The ladder weighs 155N. The wall is frictionless. Your Dad is 65kg and needs to go up 8m on a 10m ladder to reach where he is hanging the lights. You are worried about the ladder slipping at the bottom so you push the ladder at 3m up from the bottom shown below to hold it in place. What is the minimum force that you need to keep it from slipping ?

Answer 1