Why is a ladder an inclined plane?

Answer 1

It usually form an angle of 90 on resting on any vertical surface

Answer 2

The inclined plane is one of the seven simple machines. It is used to make human work easier by moving a small load under less resistance. The load is under less resistance because the ramp (inclined plane) is an angle other than 90 degrees.

Answer 3

The idea of simple machines came from a Greek philosopher Archimedes in the 3rd century. He discovered three simple machines. Also known as, "Archimedean Machines", these machines include the:

· The Lever

· The Pulley

· The Wheel and Axel

· The Screw

Later Greeks classified five simple machines (excluding the inclined plane). This was because what the Greeks only understood was limited to statics, or the balance of forces. They did not understand dynamics or the idea of spreading work out to reduce the effort put into it; also known as work.

Later during the Renaissance a Flemish Engineer, named Simon Stevin discovered the inclined plane. He discovered that simple machines did not have to make a "balance of forces" as the Greeks defined it, and he discovered simple machines only reduce the amount of effort put into work. This was a revolution in the history of simple machines because scientists then discovered over one-hundred simple machines. However, there has been some dispute about these new simple machines, but all scientists agree that the Archimedean Simple machines and the inclined plane are the main simple machines.

Answer 4

An inclined plane is a simple machine which can be used for raising or lowering heavy or delicate objects with ease. If we are moving something up an inclined plane the force required is less than just moving it straight up. If we are lowering something down using an inclined plane, then the object would fall much slower than if we simply drop it (which may hurt people or break things).

However, this ease comes with a cost. When we use inclined plane we need to move the object to a larger distance as compared to lifting up. The length of the slope of inclined plane is much longer than the direct height where we are putting our load i.e. Less force is applied for more distance.

Work = Force X Distance, When we use inclined plane overall work done is same but lesser force is applied for more distance.

Now the question is if the overall work done remains same, then how did the inclined plane make our work easier?

If we want to lift a heavy weight (say 100 kg), it might be beyond our power to lift that weight however, when we use inclined plane, though we might have to push a little longer, still we can now accomplish it because the force to be applied is reduced.

Though we might have to spend a little more time in getting this weight on the top of the inclined plane due to covering more distance. But at least we could do something which was earlier not possible.

I have a complete video on Inclined Planes and how they make work easier, on my educational YouTube channel: The Science Girl. You can check there.

Answer 5

It is called an inclined plane because it is a flat surface that is tilted at an angle. The angle makes the flat surface an incline because one end is higher than the other.

Answer 6

The advantage is that force is lessened over a longer distance. The longer the inclined plane, the higher the mechanical advantage.