- #1
anerky
- 1
- 0
I'm wondering if anyone can help me with a problem that I came up with while trying to design an alarm-hourglass for myself..
I have math experience up to differential equations, but no real contact with physics, so I'm asking here.
Given the situation in the picture: a mass suspended from a string (whose mass is being increased at a constant rate), wound around a pulley (whose frictional coefficient I have yet to test, but can be assumed arbitrary for now), and finally attached to the uppermost edge of a box of height h, with a square base of sides h/3. This box is on an inclined plane with an angle of theta from horizontal (friction prevents the box from moving).
Everything is fixed, except the increasing mass and the box.
At what point does the box reach the tipping point?
(I'll try to figure it out later just through geometry, intuition and the calculus, but would really appreciate some insight)
I have math experience up to differential equations, but no real contact with physics, so I'm asking here.
Given the situation in the picture: a mass suspended from a string (whose mass is being increased at a constant rate), wound around a pulley (whose frictional coefficient I have yet to test, but can be assumed arbitrary for now), and finally attached to the uppermost edge of a box of height h, with a square base of sides h/3. This box is on an inclined plane with an angle of theta from horizontal (friction prevents the box from moving).
Everything is fixed, except the increasing mass and the box.
At what point does the box reach the tipping point?
(I'll try to figure it out later just through geometry, intuition and the calculus, but would really appreciate some insight)