User Tools
Sidebar
As a consequence of Newton's Second Law, objects placed on an incline sometimes experience a net force, and accelerate down the slope. At other times, the force of friction is enough to prevent acceleration. There are two keys to determining what will happen: * understanding the relationship between the force of gravity and the normal force; and * understanding the relationship between the normal force and the friction force.
The interactive page, captured in the image below, will place a block on a slope. What will happen when you press start?
The Discover tab allows you to play with the variables, study the vectors, and watch the resulting motion.
The Explore tab introduces two different grid perspectives that make the vectors easier to understand.
The Master tab doesn't do anything yet, but should eventually offer an array of initial conditions and ask for a prediction about the resulting motion.
The More tab leads here.
