Projectile on inclined plane

A projectile is projected at an angle 60 degrees with the horizontal with velocity 10m/sec from the bottom of the inclined plane.Find the angle of inclination of plane(alpa) such that direction of motion for the particle is always more than 30 degrees from the horizontal before collision with the inclined plane.

Help much appreciated

1 Answers

66
kaymant ·

Let the angle be \alpha. If you choose a coordinate system whose x axis runs along the incline and the y axis perpendicular to the incline then in this coordinate system the acceleration due to gravity will have a component -g\cos\alpha along the y axis and -g\sin\alpha along the x axis. Accordingly the velocity components v_x and v_y could be obtained as:
v_x = u\cos(\theta -\alpha) -g t\sin\alpha and
v_y = u\sin(\theta -\alpha) -g t\cos\alpha
Here I have taken u = 10 m/s and \theta = 60^\circ.
The y coordinate :
y = ut\sin(\theta -\alpha) -\frac{1}{2}g t^2\cos\alpha
When it returns back to the incline y=0. Accordingly we get the time of flight above the incline as
T = \frac{2u\sin(\theta -\alpha)}{g\cos\alpha}
Going back to the normal xy system (x axis horizontal y axis vertical), the angle \beta which the velocity vector makes with the horizontal is given by
\tan \beta = \dfrac{u\sin \theta -gt}{u\cos \theta} = \tan\theta - \frac{gt}{u\cos\theta}
This is decreasing function of t. So we require that the least value of β (attained for t= T) should not be less than 30°. That gives
\tan\theta - \frac{gT}{u\cos\theta} \ge \frac{1}{\sqrt{3}}
Solving this inequality gives
\boxed{ \alpha \ge 30^\circ}

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