Revisiting the least force required to keep a block from sliding

• Autores: De Subhranil
• Localización: The Physics Teacher, ISSN 0031-921X, Vol. 51, Nº. 4, 2013, pág. 220
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • This article pertains to a problem on static friction that concerns a block of mass M resting on a rough inclined plane. The coefficient of static friction is µs and the inclination angle ? is greater than tan-1 µs. This means that some force F must be applied (see Fig. 1)1 to keep the block from sliding down the incline. Familiar textbook versions of this problem ask for the minimum value of F when it is applied in a certain specified direction, for example, parallel to the incline (f= 0 in Fig. 1) or perpendicular to the incline (f= 90°). Here, we generalize the problem by allowing the direction of the force to be adjustable and asking what the absolute minimum value of F is in order to keep the block from sliding.