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Incline planes

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Reply 20
066849E2-904F-4015-87E9-59C22559F7FB.jpg.jpeg

It’s this right?
Reply 21
Original post by r7kytt
066849E2-904F-4015-87E9-59C22559F7FB.jpg.jpeg

It’s this right?

If that Nsin35 represents the magnitude of the "upper" side of your triangle (the side parallel to the ground) then yes.

As your "N" line is pointing in a roughly north-west direction you can see that the horizontal component will be pointing west (rather than east) i.e. it balances the only other horizontal force which is the friction F.
Reply 22
I had it yesterday because I got help, but forgot it because I thought what I was thinking was wrong because of your explanation but now I get it
Original post by r7kytt
I had it yesterday because I got help, but forgot it because I thought what I was thinking was wrong because of your explanation but now I get it

It's always worth remembering that the original force must be the hypotenuse of the right angled triangle, so the right angle must occur between the two (perpendicular) resolved forces.
(edited 3 years ago)
Reply 24
Original post by mqb2766
It's always worth remembering that the original force must be the hypotenuse of the right angled triangle, so the right angle must occur between the two (perpendicular) resolved forces.


In every case? Is there anything else to look out for?
Do you understand why?
Reply 26
Original post by mqb2766
Do you understand why?


Nope, seems factual to remember though lol
Original post by r7kytt
Nope, seems factual to remember though lol

Have a think/look at your examples/textbook and see if you can work out why.
Reply 28
Original post by mqb2766
Have a think/look at your examples/textbook and see if you can work out why.


It divides the components ? It balances out the force /weight
Original post by r7kytt
It divides the components ? It balances out the force /weight

That's a start. You generally use perpendicular directions to analyse force/motion as each direction is independent of the other. As an example, motion in the horizontal direction does not interfere with the vertical direction and vice versa.
Splitting the original force into perpendicular components must mean that each component is less than the original force.
Putting the two together, in a right angled triangle, the perpendicular components must be the legs, the original force must be the hypotenuse.
Reply 30
Original post by mqb2766
That's a start. You generally use perpendicular directions to analyse force/motion as each direction is independent of the other. As an example, motion in the horizontal direction does not interfere with the vertical direction and vice versa.
Splitting the original force into perpendicular components must mean that each component is less than the original force.
Putting the two together, in a right angled triangle, the perpendicular components must be the legs, the original force must be the hypotenuse.


So if you had a particle on an inclined plane at an 30° with weight of 20kg, since the 20g downwards is going to be more than it’s perpendicular components? Is it to do with physics? (As a further explanation)?
Original post by r7kytt
So if you had a particle on an inclined plane at an 30° with weight of 20kg, since the 20g downwards is going to be more than it’s perpendicular components? Is it to do with physics? (As a further explanation)?

It's not physics, it's geometry. If you have a force F, and you split it into two components X and Y which are at right angles to each other, then by Pythagorus, |F|^2 = |X|^2 + |Y|^2, and in particular, FX |{\bf F}| \geq |{\bf X}| and FY |{\bf F}| \geq |{\bf Y}| (with equality if and only if one of X, Y is zero).

[A common example a force F = ai + bj where i, j are horizontal / vertical unit vectors, but it's true for any 2 perpendicular vectors - for example parallel and perpendicular to an inclined plane].
(edited 3 years ago)

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