A ball of radius 3 cm and weight of 1.00 kg rests on a plane tilted at an angle a with the horizontal and also touches a vertical wall. Both surfaces have negligible friction. Find the force with which the ball presses on each plane.

Question

theeric · Answer

Hi! Do you understand the situation? Drawing a picture might help!

anonymous · Answer

I have drawn a picture I am just at a loss on how to account for both forces from the planes at the same time.

theeric · Answer

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Since you don't know the angle, you won't be able to find the exact forces.

But you can keep the angle as a variable and use it as part of the answer.


Do you know about splitting up forces into their components?

theeric · Answer

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theeric · Answer

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If the ball is resting, then the sum of all the forces must be $0$. Otherwise there would be acceleration, and the ball would not stay resting.

theeric · Answer

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