Motion analysis of an accelerating wedge and a block

In summary: The normal force does not stay the same. The block does not move down with an acceleration mg cosθ (as it would if the...The normal force does not stay the same. The block does not move down with an acceleration mg cosθ (as it would if the normal force were a force between the wedge and the block). The normal force is a force between the wedge and the block only when the two objects are in contact.
  • #36
jbriggs444 said:
Sure, it's a fictitious force. But Newton's second law still applies. The real physical forces that you can calculate using the accelerating frame are the same as the real physical forces that you would calculate using an inertial frame.

The accelerations that you calculate in the accelerating frame would indeed need to be adjusted (aka "transformed") before they are correct for the ground frame. But adopting the accelerating frame may simplify the analysis enough that it's worth the added effort of a transformation step at the end.
Yes so in the end I'll need to make adjustments to the result obtained from an accelerating frame. I will have to subtract ma0cosα in the end from the result , right ?
 
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  • #38
NoahCygnus said:
Yes so in the end I'll need to make adjustments to the result obtained from an accelerating frame. I will have to subtract ma0cosα in the end from the result , right ?
What result did you start with in the accelerating frame? What end result did you wish to obtain?
 
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