Question

An inclined plane is made out of a short plank of wood. It is used to move a 300N box up onto a tabletop 1m above the floor. What would happen to the work and mechanical advantage if a longer plank were used to accomplish the same task?
A) The work and mechanical advantage would increase.
B) The work would decrease and mechanical advantage would increase.
C) The work would remain the same and mechanical advantage would increase.
D) The work would remain the same and mechanical advantage would decrease.

Answer 1

C. The work would remain the same and mechanical advantage would increase.

You're still doing the same thing, but having a longer ramp would make the work done easier (mechanical advantage has increased)

Answer 2

Answer:

The purpose of an inclinded plane is to make easier to move objects to a certain height.

The technology behind this is about the Work you need to use to move the object upwards. Basically, when we use an inclined plane, we are splitting the net force, making easier to move. All this means, the force needed to move the objecto up will be lower, due to the inclined plane.

So, if the force needed is lower, then the work is also lower, because the work done is defined as the product between the force applied and the distance traveled.

In addition, if we have a longer inclined plane, that means the force needed is even lower, beacuse the distance is increased, but the Work is the same, because it only depends on the initial and final point.

Therefore, in this case, the work would remain the same and the mechanical advantage would increase. As we said before, the work needed will be the same despite the force decreases, because the distance increases, remaining the work as a constant. And the mechanical advantage increases, because it's easier to move if the inclined plane is longer.