Answered

1. If you want to use a ramp to lift a 50 kg box up 3 m using 100 N of force, how long should the ramp be?

2. If the ramp is only 80% efficient, due to friction, how long would it need to be?

Answer :

skyluke89

1) 14.7 m

2) 18.4 m

Explanation:

1)

Assuming that the ramp is 100%, we can apply the law of conservation of energy: this means that the work done in input to lift the box must be equal to the work done in output.

So we can write:

[tex]W_i=W_o[/tex]

where

[tex]W_i=F_id_i[/tex] is the work in input, where

[tex]F_i = 100 N[/tex] is the force applied in input

[tex]d_i[/tex] is the distance through which the input force is applied (which corresponds to the length of the ramp)

[tex]W_o=F_o d_o[/tex] is the work in output, where

[tex]F_o=mg = (50)(9.8)=490 N[/tex] is the force in output, which corresponds to the weight of the box (m = 50 kg is the mass of the box and [tex]g=9.8 m/s^2[/tex] is the acceleration due to gravity)

[tex]d_o = 3 m[/tex] is the distance through which the box has been lifted

Solving for [tex]d_i[/tex], we find the length of the ramp:

[tex]F_i d_i = F_o d_o\\d_i = \frac{F_o d_o}{F_i}=\frac{(490)(3)}{100}=14.7 m[/tex]

2)

In this case, the ramp is only 80% efficient, due to the presence of friction forces. This means that only 80% of the work done in input is converted into work in output.

Therefore in this case, we can write:

[tex]0.80W_i = W_o[/tex]

Which means that the output work is only 80% of the work in input.

The equation can be rewritten as

[tex]0.80F_i d_i = F_o d_o[/tex]

And we have

[tex]F_i = 100 N[/tex]

[tex]F_o = 490 N[/tex]

[tex]d_o = 3m[/tex]

Solving for [tex]d_i[/tex], we find the new length of the ramp:

[tex]d_i = \frac{F_o d_o}{0.80 F_i}=\frac{(490)(3)}{0.80(100)}=18.4 m[/tex]

Other Questions