INTERACTIVE EXAMPLE
© Copyright, Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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Two Blocks



Two blocks are positioned as shown above, and are released from rest. Block A has a mass of 15 kg and hangs on one end of a massless string that passes over an 'ideal' ( frictionless and massless ) pulley. The other end of the string is attached to block B which has a mass of 10 kg. Block B rests on an incline. The angle of incline is 30 o.

The string cannot stretch or shrink. Assume that there is no friction anywhere in the system.
Define acceleration for block B as positive if it goes up the incline, and negative if it goes down the incline.

What is the acceleration of block B, assuming that block A has not hit the ground, and block B is still on the incline? If you type in the expression for the acceleration, use angles in the units of degrees, not radians.

a B = m/s2