Harold uses an inclined plane to move a washing machine from the sidewalk into his house. The vertical distance from the sidewalk to the house is 0.8 meters. If the plane has a mechanical advantage of 2.3, how long is the plane?

Question

Responses

1.84 m

3.1 m

0.35 m

1.5 m

Answer 1

To find the length of the inclined plane, we can use the formula for mechanical advantage (MA):

\[ \text{MA} = \frac{\text{Resistance Force (Weight)}}{\text{Effort Force}} = \frac{\text{Height}}{\text{Length of Inclined Plane}} \]

Rearranging this formula gives us:

\[ \text{Length} = \frac{\text{Height}}{\text{MA}} \]

Given:

• Height = 0.8 meters
• Mechanical Advantage (MA) = 2.3

We can plug in the values:

\[ \text{Length} = \frac{0.8 \text{ m}}{2.3} \]

Calculating this gives:

\[ \text{Length} = 0.3478 \text{ m} \approx 0.35 \text{ m} \]

Thus, the length of the inclined plane is approximately 0.35 m.