Inclines and Pulleys and Trains Oh My! Plus Equilibrium!

Another unit has ended and a new one has begun. Yes, after the painful kinematics test we wrote last week, we moved onto a new chapter in our fascinating physics textbook, NEWTONS! I must admit, Newtons is not easy, but it is interesting. If you know what you are doing, then it is a guaranteed A on the test and of course, exam. However, for ones who try to escape math as much as possible and find it hard to do math, like myself, need to work hard to try and understand the problems. There are only four different problems we are learning to solve in this chapter, and they are: equilibrium problems, inclines, pulleys and trains. They sound easy, no? Well what can I say. They are okay but they require a big chunk of your time, energy and brain to wrap your head around them.

Before I start, you need to know Newton's three rules.
Newton's first law, law of inertia, states: '' all objects will remain in a state of rest or continue to move with a constant velocity unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.''
Newton's second law states: '' the acceleration of an object depends inversely on its mass and directly on the unbalanced force applied to it.''
Newton's third law states: ''for every action force, there is an equal and opposite reaction force.''
Once you are familiar with these concepts, you can apply them to solve the four problems: equilibrium, incline, pulleys and trains.

EQUILIBRIUM: when all forces are balanced









INCLINE: Friction, Static




Friction:






Static:





PULLEYS:








TRAINS:






NOTE: For every problem, do not forget to draw the FREE BODY DIAGRAM, otherwise you will lose marks, and it might be more difficult to do the equations!

-Peggy.