Sliding wardrobe door opens by itself [SOLVED] Image from Locky's English Playground |
Back in January, my sliding wardrobe door had been refusing to close, opening by itself automatically. Tried climbing up to the top of the wardrobe and lying flat on the floor looking up to see if there were any broken parts, but still failed to see anything wrong with it. What I am certain of, is that there is no ghost doing this. It has to do with science.
Looking up, door is slightly tilted downwards on the right side Image from Locky's English Playground |
Took me a while to figure out what the issue really was. Apparently, it has to do with the weight of the sliding door (and gravity, if you like).
Looking from the top, door is slightly tilted downwards on the right side. Using L-wrench to tighten the nut to relift the right side Image from Locky's English Playground |
A graphical look of the sliding wardrobe doors (Blue arrow is the weight, red arrows are component forces) Image from Locky's English Playground |
This dip plus the weight of the door create a side-way force from left to right, making the door sliding open on its own. After tightening the nut from above the door, the problem was finally solved.
Now, at this point, I am thinking, why has no one ever linked the learning of free body diagram in Mathematics or Physics to realistic cases like this? This will give meanings to students as to why they have to learn resolving forces?