Projecting

forces Inclined Plane Case

This is a step-by-step tutorial on the process of projecting vectors (in this case forces)
along two perpendicular directions, in this case along the x and y axis.
Lets assume that the only force acting on the object is force F as illustrated below in
either one of the four cases presented below.
a)
1) First draw in a line parallel to the incline, passing through the point on which force F is
anchored, then a line perpendicular to the incline. Use a triangle as it allows you to best
represent perpendiculars, or 90o angles.

Drawing in the parallel direction Drawing in the perpendicular direction

I marked these directions as and ! . We will use these lines to project the force F along
them. Projecting is a procedure that must be done properly. It is not a random act!



2) Projecting F onto the perpendicular direction. Place the triangle as seen below and
draw a dashed line from the tip of F perpendicularly onto the line marked with . The
place where the dashed line intersects the line marked with uniquely defines the
!
perpendicular component of the force F, F! .

3) Projecting F onto the parallel direction. Notice that in drawing the dashed lines I
constructed a rectangle.


Below is the result of my projections, with the perpendicular and parallel components of
the force neatly presented.

(a)

!
You can repeat this procedure for case b. Finding F :

!
Finding F! :

Your final sketch then looks like this:

(b)
Finally, you can practice more using cases (c) and (d).
4) In order to be able to evaluate these components, we first need to find angle in the
triangles of forces using congruence rules.
For case (a):

Angle !COA is congruent to angle because lines A and B are parallel to each other
and intersected by line C. These two angles are called corresponding angles. In fact,
angles !COA and !MON are also congruent as vertical angles.
In our figure, we can thus now identify angle for case (a) as seen below:

For case (b) we make use of a congruence rule involving angles whose legs are
perpendicular. For example, in the figure below, I marked the two corresponding
perpendicular legs with green and pink, respectively.

We thus found angle for case (b).

5) We now write down the proper trigonometric relationships between the force F and its
parallel and perpendicular components, using the angle .

F = F cos !

F = F sin !

F! =Fsin!

F! = F cos !

Notice that you cant just memorize what F and F! are. That depends on the situation. It
is much better to rely on this procedure that I am outlining here.
6) Now lets introduce another force into the picture. Gravity is also acting on the object.
It is oriented vertically downward. This force, thus, does not point along either one of the
two perpendicular directions we defined.

We need to project it in order to find its components along the parallel and perpendicular
directions. To do this, we repeat the procedure outlined at points 2) and 3).

!
Projecting Gravity along the perpendicular direction (finding FG! ):

!
Projecting Gravity along the parallel direction (finding FG|| ):

Identifying angle in the triangle of forces (I marked the respectively perpendicular legs
with like color):

Lastly, we write down the components:

The last force acting on the object is the Normal Force. We can draw this one in as well.
Cases (a) and (b) are now completely represented below.
(a)
(b)

7) To continue the problem, you can now write Newtons Second Law in vector form
along each of the two perpendicular directions: The vector sum of all the forces acting
along that particular direction must equal the mass times the acceleration along that
direction. Notice that since the object does not move along the perpendicular direction,
that component of the acceleration is zero! We work this out below for case (a)
Parallel Direction

Perpendicular Direction

! !
!
F|| + FG|| = maa||

! !
!
! !
!
!
F! + FG! + N a = m aa! " F! + FG! + N a = 0
!
0

8) Pick along each direction, parallel and perpendicular, a positive direction. Among all
four cases in problem 6 I will consistently pick the direction downward along the incline
to be positive. All forces acting along that direction will receive a + sign. The
acceleration also must receive a sign. Since in case (a) the object has no choice but to
!
accelerate downward, aa|| > 0 . Any force component pointing in the opposite direction
will receive a sign. With this I can rewrite Newtons second Law skipping the vector
arrows but adding the proper signs corresponding to my choice. In the perpendicular
direction, I will pick upward to be positive. All vectors must receive a sign (that is the
acceleration too)!

F|| + FG|| = maa||

F! " FG! + N a = 0

9) Replace the components of the forces with the expressions we derived at 5) (for F) and
6) for FG. Rewrite Newtons 2nd Law for the components:

F cos ! + mgsin ! = maa||

F sin ! ! mg cos ! + N a = 0

10) Solve for N and a||:

F
cos !
m
F
aa|| = 0.5g + 0.866 "
m
aa|| = gsin ! +

N a = mg cos ! ! F sin !
N a = 0.866mg ! 0.5F

This is because =30o.

For case (b) you actually dont know whether the object will accelerate downward or
upward along the incline, because you dont have information about the magnitude of F
and the mass of the object. Take a look at the figure below to notice that if F|| is larger
than FG||, the object will be moving upward and the acceleration would be pointing that
way. Since we dont know, and to stay consistent with case (a), I will pick the
acceleration to be downward still. In the case that numbers are given, if you made the
wrong guess about the direction of the acceleration, your answer will have the correct
magnitude but the wrong sign. In that case, you will only have to flip the sign.

Now respect this procedure for all other cases. Dont skip any of the above steps until
you are absolutely confident that you know what you are doing!