How do you find tension and friction on an inclined plane

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To find tension and friction on an inclined plane in a pulley system, start by applying Newton's second law (Fnet = ma) for both masses. For the hanging mass, use the equation ma = mg - FT, while for the mass on the incline, apply ma = -mgsinθ + FT - Ff, ensuring to include the friction force. The coefficient of kinetic friction can be calculated using Ff = μFN, where FN is the normal force. It's important to keep signs consistent based on the direction of acceleration and forces. The tension in the rope is the same throughout the system if the pulley is considered massless and frictionless.
  • #31
A fully frictionless pulley system would slip between pulley and rope, making the pulley mass irrelevant.
Anyway, no information about the pulley system is given, so frictionless and massless is the most reasonable assumption.
 
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  • #32
mfb said:
A fully frictionless pulley system would slip between pulley and rope, making the pulley mass irrelevant.
Yes, but that is never what is meant in a problem statement by a 'frictionless pulley'. If it were frictionless in that sense there would be no need for it to be a pulley - it could just be a frictionless shoulder.
mfb said:
Anyway, no information about the pulley system is given, so frictionless and massless is the most reasonable assumption.
Sure, but Leah (or other readers) may in future encounter problems where the pulley has inertia, so I felt it was important to get the statement right. (And problems where the pulley has relevant inertia may also describe the pulley as frictionless, without necessarily clarifying that this only refers to the axle.)
 

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