Mass on Incline Plane - no Friction

Description : A Bee is placed on a friction-less inclined plane (hey, work with me here, you know how hard it is to draw a box at an angle?). It can be given an velocity (upward or downward). The angle of the incline can be changed. The mass of the Bee can be changed. You can also add a force applied up the incline (such as a tension in a string attached to the Bee, or a force pushing the Bee). The angle for the force is measured from the "true horizontal" (thus, if you want the force to be directed up the incline .. give it the same angle as the incline). [The one thing I left fixed was the starting position of the Bee .. changing that is not as important as changing the other things {in case you are wondering, the Bee start 6 meters up, as measured along the incline}.] [Also note: this Bee is on a "track" on the incline .. thus you can't "lift" him/her off the incline with the applied force - a future version of this page might allow that.]
                                           net Force (upward_along_incline) = Fx - mgsin(theta) = ma
[Note, the direction up the incline = positive for the velocity and the acceleration!]

Initial conditions :

  • Initial angle (theta0) of the incline  degrees
  • Initial velocity of the Bee  m/s (up=positive)
  • Mass of the Bee  kg
  • External Force applied to Bee  N
  • Angle of force  deg (w/re to the true horizontal)

Show velocity/accleration vectors/values?

Try these investigations :
a) Can you find a force, for a given situation {with no initial velocity}, where the Bee won't move on the incline? Can you also calculate that force?
b) Consider the situation above - with that specific force .. what if you now put in an initial velocity ... what is the acceleration of the system? Does that make sense? Why?
c) If the Force is zero ... the amount of mass of the bee does not affect the acceleration, right? Why not?
d) With F=0, give the Bee an initial velocity up the incline, then same magnitude down .. watch the velocity at the bottom - do both cases have the same final velocity? Is that what you expect?
e) With no initial velocity, and the force initially zero, watch the final velocity when it reaches the bottom. Then apply a small force upward along the incline, and watch the final velocity - how has it changed?

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