Question

as you may know, if you drop an object and it is affected little by air resistance, the acceleration is 9.8m/s^2. Do you think accleration down the ramp is more or less than is 9.8m/s^2?

Answer 1

Acceleration down a ramp is less than 9.8 m/s^2

Step-by-step explanation:

The force responsible for accelerating down an object is the force of gravity (the weight of the object), given by

`F=mg`

where m is the mass of the object and g=9.8 m/s^2 is the acceleration due to gravity.

When an object is along a ramp, the acceleration is along the ramp: therefore, it is due not to the whole force of gravity, but only to its component acting along the ramp. The component of the weight acting along the ramp is

`F=mg sin \theta`

where
`\theta` is the angle of the ramp. As a consequence, the acceleration of the object is

`a=g sin \theta`

and since
`sin \theta < 1`, it means that the acceleration is less than 9.8 m/s^2.