- #1
Shindo
- 12
- 0
Homework Statement
a 280-kg piano slides 4.3m down a 30 degree incline and is kept from accelerating by a man who is pushing back on it parallel to the incline.
I know how to find the solution, but there's something that I don't understand about why it's that way. In order to find the force the man needs to exert to keep it from accelerating you subtract the friction force by the component of gravity. But I don't get why you subtract it rather than adding it. If it is not accelerating how do you determine which direction the friction force is acting? At first I thought it would be along the same direction of the horizontal component of gravity because it slides down that way, but instead friction is helping the man in this case. Why does it point against gravity and how are you able to tell? Thanks!