What is the angle factor for a 90-degree sling angle?

What is the angle factor for a 90-degree sling angle?

• A. 1.73
• B. 1.41
• C. 1.0
• D. 1.50

Answer: (B)

The idea is how sling angle increases the load each leg must carry. When two legs share the weight, the tension in each leg is determined by t = W / (2 cos theta), where theta is the angle each leg makes with vertical. The angle factor—the multiplier you apply to the vertical load to get the actual leg tension—is 1 / cos theta (the secant of theta). For a 90-degree sling angle, the legs are spread so the angle between them is 90 degrees, which means each leg forms 45 degrees with vertical. So the angle factor is 1 / cos 45° = 1 / (√2/2) = √2 ≈ 1.41. This is why the correct value is about 1.41. Other numbers would correspond to different sling angles.

The idea is how sling angle increases the load each leg must carry. When two legs share the weight, the tension in each leg is determined by t = W / (2 cos theta), where theta is the angle each leg makes with vertical. The angle factor—the multiplier you apply to the vertical load to get the actual leg tension—is 1 / cos theta (the secant of theta).

For a 90-degree sling angle, the legs are spread so the angle between them is 90 degrees, which means each leg forms 45 degrees with vertical. So the angle factor is 1 / cos 45° = 1 / (√2/2) = √2 ≈ 1.41. This is why the correct value is about 1.41. Other numbers would correspond to different sling angles.