[TowerTalk] Calculating Forces for Tilting tower

[jimlux]

On 5/29/19 11:31 AM, Richard (Rick) Karlquist wrote:
> 
> 
> On 5/29/2019 10:27 AM, charlie at thegallos.com wrote:
>> Thanks Jim,
>> That makes 100% sense, was wondering where the "Magic" 2x and 4x came 
>> from, as I was expecting to see a COS in there somewhere, and moment 
>> arms (I know enough to know that)
>>
> 
> It may seem that trigonometry is always necessary to make these
> calculations.  However, in many cases, the forces can be determined
> without trigonometric functions by using similar triangles.  There
> is a tendency to jump right in with trig functions whether they
> are essential or not.

Exactly.. a 45,45,90 triangle makes it easy.  There's really 3 numbers 
you need to remember - 0.707, 0.5, 0.866 - and then make your problem 
either 30,45, or 60 degrees.




Now, if you want to start computing the forces as you hoist it up, then 
it gets a bit more complicated...