Inclined Plane

The surface may or may not have friction.

If the surface is frictionless then we can use the problem to illustrate Conservation of Energy. As the sled slides down the frictionless surface, potential energy is converted into kinetic energy.

We need to come back here and write a lot!

For now, you will use a right triangle to calculate component forces. It should make sense to you that both component forces have to be less than the actual force. With this in mind, the force “mg” should be the hypotenuse of the right triangle.

[two extreme exceptions: the drop is 90 degrees and there is no force going into the inclined plane or the drop is 0 degrees (a horizontal surface, no incline) and all the force is going into the plane, there is no force moving the sled.]

For angles like 10 deg, your triangle should show a very small force moving the sled down the inclined plane and a lot of force moving into the the inclined plane.