FORCES APPLIED
AT AN ANGLE AND
INCLUNED PLANE
An object placed on a tilted surface will often slide down the
surface. The rate at which the object slides down the surface is
dependent upon how tilted the surface is; the greater the tilt of
the surface, the faster the rate at which the object will slide
down it.
In physics, a tilted surface is called an inclined plane. Objects are known to
accelerate down inclined planes because of an unbalanced force. To understand
this type of motion, it is important to analyze the forces acting upon an object
on an inclined plane.
The Abnormal Normal Force
The first peculiarity of inclined plane problems is that
the normal force is not directed in the direction that we
are accustomed to.
we have always seen normal forces acting
in an upward direction, opposite the
direction of the force of gravity.
But this is only because the objects were always on horizontal
surfaces and never upon inclined planes. The truth about normal
forces is not that they are always upwards, but rather that they
are always directed perpendicular to the surface that the
The Components of the Gravity Force
The task of determining the net force acting upon an object on an
inclined plane is a difficult manner since the two (or more)
forces are not directed in opposite directions. Thus, one (or
more) of the forces will have to be resolved into perpendicular
components so that they can be easily added to the other forces
acting upon the object.
However, this is not the process that we will pursue with inclined planes.
Instead, the process of analyzing the forces acting upon objects on inclined
planes will involve resolving the weight vector (Fgrav) into two
perpendicular components.
This is the second peculiarity of inclined plane problems.
The force of gravity will be resolved into two
components of force - one directed parallel to the
inclined surface and the other directed perpendicular to
the inclined surface.
The diagram below shows how the force of gravity has been
replaced by two components - a parallel and a perpendicular
component of force.
The perpendicular component of the force of gravity is directed opposite the normal
force and as such balances the normal force. The parallel component of the force of
gravity is not balanced by any other force. This object will subsequently accelerate
down the inclined plane due to the presence of an unbalanced force. It is the parallel
component of the force of gravity that causes this acceleration. The parallel component
of the force of gravity is the net force.
The task of determining the magnitude of the two
components of the force of gravity is a mere manner of using
the equations. The equations for the parallel and
perpendicular components are:
In the absence of friction and other forces (tension, applied, etc.),
the acceleration of an object on an incline is the value of the
parallel component (m*g*sine of angle) divided by the mass (m).
This yields the equation
Simplifying an Inclined Plane Problem
In the presence of friction or other forces (applied force, tensional forces, etc.), the
situation is slightly more complicated. Consider the diagram shown
The perpendicular component of force still balances the normal force since
objects do not accelerate perpendicular to the incline. Yet the frictional
force must also be considered when determining the net force.
As in all net force problems, the net force is the vector sum
of all the forces. That is, all the individual forces are added
together as vectors. The perpendicular component and the
normal force add to 0 N. The parallel component and the
friction force add together to yield 5 N. The net force is 5 N,
directed along the incline towards the floor.
The above problem (and all inclined plane problems) can be simplified through a useful trick known as "tilting the
head." An inclined plane problem is in every way like any other net force problem with the sole exception that the
surface has been tilted. Thus, to transform the problem back into the form with which you are more comfortable,
merely tilt your head in the same direction that the incline was tilted. Or better yet, merely tilt the page of paper (a
sure remedy for TNS - "tilted neck syndrome" or "taco neck syndrome") so that the surface no longer appears level.
This is illustrated below.
As an example consider the situation depicted in the diagram The free-body diagram
shows the forces acting upon a 100-kg crate that is sliding down an inclined plane. The
plane is inclined at an angle of 30 degrees. The coefficient of friction between the crate
and the incline is 0.3. Determine the net force and acceleration of the crate.
• Begin the above problem by finding the force of gravity
acting upon the crate and the components of this force
parallel and perpendicular to the incline.
• The force of gravity is 980 N and the components of this
force are Fparallel = 490 N (980 N • sin 30 degrees) and
Fperpendicular = 849 N (980 N • cos30 degrees).
• Now the normal force can be determined to be 849 N (it
must balance the perpendicular component of the weight
vector). The force of friction can be determined from the
value of the normal force and the coefficient of friction;
Ffrict is 255 N (Ffrict = "mu"*Fnorm= 0.3 • 849 N).
• The net force is the vector sum of all the forces. The forces
directed perpendicular to the incline balance; the forces
directed parallel to the incline do not balance. The net force
is 235 N (490 N - 255 N). The acceleration is 2.35 m/s/s
(Fnet/m = 235 N/100 kg).
