• Bring your 2026 application questions to our open office hours with Emil Chuck, PhD, Director of Advising Services for HPSA, and get them answered live. Personal statements, secondaries, interview prep, school list strategy. Sunday, May 17 at 9 p.m. Eastern.

TPR Physics Chapter 3 FSQ #4

Started by today15
This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

today15

New Member
7+ Year Member
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
I realize some has already posted a thread about this question, however I'm still having trouble getting the answer algebraically and it's really getting on my nerves :/.

Question: A box of mass m is sitting on an incline of 45 degrees and it requires an applied force F up the incline to get the box to begin to move what is the maximum coefficient of static friction?

a) [sqrt2*F / mg] - 1
b) [sqrt2*F / mg]
c) [sqrt2*F / mg] + 1
d) [2F / mg] - 1


I can get up to all this:

Since the force of friction as well as force of gravity is opposing the movement:

F = mgSin 45 + (mu) mg Cos 45

F = mg/sqrt2 + (mu)mg/sqrt2

mu = (F - mg/sqrt2) * sqrt2/mg

From this point I cannot seem to get the answer (a)...my algebra is not so great so if you could break it down that would be fantastic! Thank you!