Ask Experts Questions for FREE Help!
Ask    ||    Answer
 
  Advanced  
 

Ask QuestionsprogressAnswer QuestionsprogressBuild ReputationprogressBecome an Expert
 
Free Answers in 3 Easy Steps

Register Now
3 Steps

At Ask Me Help Desk you can ask questions in any topic and have them answered for free by our experts. To ask questions or participate in answering them you must register for a free account. By registering you will be able to:
  • Get free answers from experts in any of our 300+ topics.
  • Accept money for answers that you provide.
  • Communicate privately with other members (PM).
  • See fewer ads.

Home > Science > Physics   »   box on incline. if you push it up, will it take longer to go up or longer down

 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Question
 
 
#1  
Old Dec 5, 2007, 09:14 PM
sonicvibe
New Member
sonicvibe is offline
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 12
sonicvibe See this member's comment history on his/her Profile page.
box on incline. if you push it up, will it take longer to go up or longer down

If a box is given a shove so it slides up an incline then slides back down to its starting point, will it take longer on the way up or on the way down? I think it's down.

Reply With Quote
 
     

Answers
 
 
Old Dec 5, 2007, 11:51 PM   #2  
Science Expert
Capuchin is offline
 
Capuchin's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: UK
Posts: 5,234
Capuchin See this member's comment history on his/her Profile page.Capuchin See this member's comment history on his/her Profile page.Capuchin See this member's comment history on his/her Profile page.Capuchin See this member's comment history on his/her Profile page.Capuchin See this member's comment history on his/her Profile page.Capuchin See this member's comment history on his/her Profile page.
Call Capuchin via Skype™ Send a message via MSN to Capuchin
Assuming friction or not?
  Reply With Quote
 
     
 
 
Old Dec 6, 2007, 12:16 AM   #3  
New Member
sonicvibe is offline
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 12
sonicvibe See this member's comment history on his/her Profile page.
no and yes. if no, i'm assuming it takes the same time to go up and down? but with friction....hmmmmm.
  Reply With Quote
 
     
 
 
Old Dec 6, 2007, 12:17 AM   #4  
Ultra Member
oneguyinohio is offline
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 1,309
oneguyinohio See this member's comment history on his/her Profile page.oneguyinohio See this member's comment history on his/her Profile page.
It seems to me that it would be equal because the force applied to push it up the incline will only serve to make it go further up and gradually slow until it gets as far as it will go, then on the way down it will begin slowly and pick up speed as it goes. The force applied to overcome gravity on the way up is then absent on the way down.

Imagine a ball thrown straight up in the air. When it gets to the highest point, it would then take the same amount of time to get back to where it started.

I'd love to hear other thoughts on my logic.

Friction would be constant going up or down.
  Reply With Quote
 
     
 
 
Old Dec 6, 2007, 06:29 AM   #5  
Ultra Member
ebaines is offline
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Illinois, US
Posts: 3,718
ebaines See this member's comment history on his/her Profile page.ebaines See this member's comment history on his/her Profile page.ebaines See this member's comment history on his/her Profile page.ebaines See this member's comment history on his/her Profile page.
I think it takes longer on the way down, assuming friction is present. When going up there are two components of forces opposing its motion - both gravity and friction are causing it to slow,so ut will slow pretty quickly. But on the way down gravity is causing it to accelerate while friction is causing it to go slower. Hence the sum of the forces when going up is a greater opposing force than the sum of the forces on the way down. This means that the deceleration on the way up is greater than the acceleration on the way down.

You can see this perhaps clearer if you think through a couple of examples. The example that OneGuy described is correct if there is no friction present. But imagine the case where the friction force is equal to or greater than the gravity force - in this case after the object moves up the ramp and stops, it never stars sliding back down, so here the time it takes to slide down is infinite. Thus as long as riction is present, it takes longer to go back down the ramp than it took to go up and come to a stop.
  Reply With Quote
 
     
 
 
Old Dec 9, 2007, 11:35 AM   #6  
New Member
sonicvibe is offline
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 12
sonicvibe See this member's comment history on his/her Profile page.
wowwww, this stuff makes total sense now! thanks ppl!
  Reply With Quote
 
     

Your Answer
Email me when someone replies to my answer
Join Login





Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

 
Similar Sponsors


Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Show Printable Version
Email this Page Email this Page

Similar Threads
Longer sex.
(10 replies)
How can I get my boyfriend to last longer?
(3 replies)
she is no longer an employee
(3 replies)
electric dryer taking longer and longer to dry clothes
(3 replies)
Is there anything i can do to last longer?
(7 replies)

Search this Thread

Advanced Search

Bookmarks

Sponsors



Copyright ©2003 - 2009, Ask Me Help Desk.
All times are GMT -8. The time now is 11:14 PM.