Name: ______________________________________ Date: ________________________

Student Exploration: Inclined Plane – Simple Machine

Vocabulary: coefficient of friction, efficiency, force, free-body diagram, friction, inclined plane,
mechanical advantage, mechanical energy, normal force, resultant force, simple machine,
vector, work, work-energy theorem

Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.)

Jan is moving to a new apartment. She needs to load her sofa and other large furniture into a
moving van. The rear of the moving van is 1.5 meters high.

1. What could Jan use to make loading furniture on the van easier? _____________________

_________________________________________________________________________

2. Why would this help? ________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Gizmo Warm-up
A simple machine can be used to make tasks like lifting heavy
weights easier. One example of a simple machine is a ramp, or
inclined plane. You can use the Inclined Plane – Simple Machine
Gizmo to see how inclined planes can help to lift objects.

On the CONTROLS pane, make sure the Angle is 30°, the Coeff.
of friction is 0.00, and the Weight is 300 N.

1. The brick has a weight of 300 newtons (N).

How much force would it take to lift the brick straight up? ____________________________

2. Set the External force to On. A car appears, ready to push on the brick. Set the Applied
force to 100 N and click Play ( ). What happens?

_________________________________________________________________________

3. Click Reset ( ). Using the Gizmo, find the smallest force that is required to push the block
up the 30° ramp.

What is the smallest force required? ____________________________

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 Activity A: Get the Gizmo ready:
Redirection of  Turn Off the External force. Click Reset.
force  Set the Angle to 30° and the Weight to 300 N.

Question: How does an inclined plane redirect a force?

1. Observe: Select the FREE-BODY DIAGRAM tab. Make sure Magnitude is on. A free-body
diagram is a picture that uses vectors to show the different forces acting on an object.

What does the purple arrow pointing down represent? ______________________________

The inclined plane breaks this force down into two components: one parallel to the inclined
plane (W||) and one perpendicular to the inclined plane (W ).

2. Infer: Which force (W|| or W ) will cause the brick to slide down the plane? ______________

3. Calculate: To calculate a ratio, divide the two numbers being compared.

A. What is the ratio of W|| to the Weight of the brick? _________________________

B. What is the ratio of W to the Weight of the brick? _________________________

4. Solve: As the weight of the brick pushes down on the inclined plane, the inclined plane
pushes up against the brick. This upward force is called the normal force.

A. What is the relationship between the normal force and W ? ____________________

___________________________________________________________________

B. The net force on the brick is the resultant force. What is its value? _____________

C. What force is equal to the resultant force? _________________________________

D. Select the SIMULATION tab. What is the mass of the brick? ___________________

E. The formula for force is: Force = mass × acceleration. Use this formula to calculate

what the brick’s acceleration should be: ___________________________________

Use the Gizmo to check your answer. (Click Play, and then select the TABLE tab
and look at the a (m/s2) column. Downward accelerations are negative.)

5. Make connections: Click Reset. On the CONTROLS tab, switch the External force to On.
Set the Applied force to 100 N. Select the FREE-BODY DIAGRAM tab. The green vector
represents the force the car exerts on the brick.

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 A. How does the direction of the applied force compare to the direction of W||?

___________________________________________________________________

B. Is the applied force enough to push the brick up the ramp? Explain. _____________

___________________________________________________________________

C. What is the minimum applied force needed to push the brick up the ramp? ________

D. Use the Gizmo to check your answer. What applied force did you use? ___________

Activity B: Get the Gizmo ready:

Mechanical  Select the SIMULATION and CONTROLS tabs.
advantage and  Click Reset. Set the Angle to 14°, Coeff. of
work friction (μ) to 0.00, and the Weight to 200 N.

Question: What determines the helpfulness of an inclined plane?

1. Observe: Use the Gizmo to find the minimum force needed to push the brick up the ramp.

A. What is the minimum applied force needed? ________________________________

B. Select the FREE BODY DIAGRAM tab. What is the magnitude of W||? ___________

C. How much force would be required to lift the object directly? ___________________

2. Write a formula: Because less force is needed to lift an object using an inclined plane, it has
a mechanical advantage. The mechanical advantage is equal to the force needed to lift the
object directly divided by the force needed to push the object up the inclined plane.

Write a formula for mechanical advantage (MA) of a ramp in terms of weight (W) and W||:

MA =

3. Calculate: Use your formula to calculate the mechanical advantage of the inclined plane on

the SIMULATION pane: ______________________________________________________

4. Predict: Based on your formula, how will the mechanical advantage of an inclined plane
change if the angle of the plane is increased or decreased? Explain your answer.

_________________________________________________________________________

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 Activity B (continued from previous page)

5. Predict: Work is done whenever a force causes an object to move, increasing the object’s
mechanical energy, which is the sum of its potential and kinetic energies. As you have
learned, an inclined plane has a mechanical advantage because it makes it easier to lift an
object, but do you think an inclined plane helps you to do less work? Explain your answer.

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

6. Calculate: If the distance moved is in the same direction as the force, the work done by a
force equals force  distance. Work can be measured in newton-meters (Nm) or joules
(J).

Select the SIMULATION tab. Click Reset. Set the Angle to 37°, Coeff. of friction (μ) to
0.00, and the Weight to 450 N. Move the brick so that its Height is exactly 1.00 m.

A. What force is needed to lift the brick vertically? ______________________________

B. The top of the ramp is 3.01 m above the ground. How far does the brick need to be

lifted vertically to reach this height? _______________________________________

C. How much work does a forklift do when lifting the 450-N brick from 1.00 m to 3.01 m

if it uses the least force necessary for lifting? _______________________________

7. Compare: Use the Gizmo to find the minimum force needed to lift the brick. Set the Applied
force to this value and click Play.

A. What force is needed to push the brick up the ramp? _________________________

B. Select the WORK tab. What is the total distance the brick was pushed to reach the

top of the ramp? ______________________________________________________

C. How much work was done on the brick by the car? _______________________

8- Explain: Why does an inclined plane decrease the amount of force

needed to lift the brick but does not decrease the amount of work
needing to be done?

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

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 Get the Gizmo ready:
Activity C:
 Click Reset. Set the Angle to 37°, Coeff. of
Friction and
friction (μ) to 0.25 and the Weight to 450 N.
efficiency
 Switch the External force to Off.

Introduction: Wherever two surfaces meet, the force of friction acts to oppose any motion.

Question: How does friction affect an inclined plane?

1. Observe: Select the FREE-BODY DIAGRAM tab. The teal blue vector represents friction.

A. How does the friction vector relate to the direction of movement? _______________

___________________________________________________________________

B. What is the magnitude of the friction force? ________________________________

C. Divide the magnitude of the friction by the normal force. How does this ratio compare

to the coefficient of friction? _____________________________________________

Introduction: In previous activities you investigated the work done by the car. In this one you
will investigate the work done by the entire system, which includes all forces acting on the brick.

Question: How does work relate to energy?

1. Observe: Set the Applied force to 289 N by typing this value into the text box to the right of
the slider. Press Play.

A. What is the final velocity of the brick? __________

B. How much kinetic energy did the brick gain? (Recall KE = ½ mv2.) __________

C. How much potential energy did the brick gain? (Recall PE = Wh.) __________

2. Calculate: Select the FREE BODY DIAGRAM tab and the WORK tab.

A. How far was the brick pushed? __________

B. How much work did the car do on the brick (round to nearest joule)? __________

C. What is the net (resultant) force on the brick? __________

D. Multiply the net force acting on the brick by the distance it traveled to find the total

work done by the system (which includes gravity) on the brick: _________

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