MEDIUM
AS and A Level
IMPORTANT
Earn 100

A girl tries to drag the box of mass 12 kg along the rough horizontal surface with coefficient of friction 0.4 She exerts a force at an angle of 10° above the horizontal and the box is on the point of slipping. Find the size of the force exerted by the girl.

Important Questions on Friction

MEDIUM
AS and A Level
IMPORTANT
A builder tries dragging a sack of sand of mass 25 kg along a rough horizontal surface with coefficient of friction 0.5. He pulls at 12° above the horizontal and the sack is on the point of slipping. Find the size of the total contact force.
HARD
AS and A Level
IMPORTANT
A trailer has mass 120 kg. A winch pulls the trailer with a force of 500 N at an angle θ above the horizontal. The trailer is in limiting equilibrium on horizontal ground with coefficient of friction 0.45. Find θ.
HARD
AS and A Level
IMPORTANT
A metal block of mass 20 kg is on a rough slope at an angle of 12° to the horizontal. The coefficient of friction between the book and the slope is 0.4. A boy is trying to move the block up the slope by pushing parallel to the slope. He increases the force until equilibrium breaks. Find the maximum size of the force the boy pushes with before the block slips.
MEDIUM
AS and A Level
IMPORTANT
A girl drags a sledge up a rough slope, which has an angle of 10° to the horizontal. The sledge has mass 8 kg and the coefficient of friction between the slope and the sledge is 0.3. She pulls the sledge with a rope at an angle of 12° to the slope and increases the tension until equilibrium is broken. Find the tension in the rope when this happens.
HARD
AS and A Level
IMPORTANT
A car is towed down a rough slope, which is at an angle of 5° to the horizontal. The coefficient of friction between the car and the slope is 0.35. The car is towed using a rope at an angle of 13° to the slope. Equilibrium is broken when the tension in the rope is 4000 N. Find the mass of the car.
HARD
AS and A Level
IMPORTANT
A box of mass 12 kg is at rest on a rough horizontal surface with coefficient of friction 0.6. A force is exerted on it at an angle $\theta$ above the horizontal so that the force required to break equilibrium is minimised. Show that θ is the angle of friction and find the size of the force required to break equilibrium.
HARD
AS and A Level
IMPORTANT
A box has mass 40 kg and is on a rough slope with coefficient of friction 0.3. It is pulled up the slope by a force of 300 N at 10° above the slope and is in limiting equilibrium. Find the angle that the slope makes with the horizontal.
HARD
AS and A Level
IMPORTANT
A ring of mass m kg is at rest on a fixed rough horizontal wire with coefficient of friction μ. It is attached to a string that is at an angle of α above the horizontal. Show that when T<mgsinαcos(α-θ) and θ=tan-1μ the ring will be in equilibrium. Show further that if α+θ90° and T>mgsinαcos(α-θ) the ring will always move, but if α+θ>90° and T>mgsinθsin(α+θ-90) the ring will remain in equilibrium.