Question

You need to raise a heavy block by pulling it with a massless rope. You can either a) pull straight up height h or b) pull up a long, frictionless plane inclined at a 15 degree angle until it has reached height h. Assume you will move the block at constant speed either way. WIll you do more work in case a or case b, or will they be equal? Why?

Answer 1

Answer: More work will be done in case A

Explanation:

Work is said to be done when a force applied to an object causes the object to move through a distance or height.

Work = Force × distance

If the heavy load is pulled straight up with a massless rope, then the object is pulled through a height at an angle perpendicular to the ground (i.e 90°)

Much work will be done in case A and less work in case B. Less work is done in case B due to the use of a machine which is an inclined plane. The use of machine makes work much easier and it allows us to do work in a more convenient manner. It allow us to overcome a much larger load using minimal effort. For the first case, much work will be done since we are carrying through a vertical height which requires more effort compare to when an inclined plane is used.

Also note that the higher the angle of inclination, the more the work done on the object and vice versa