Question

You are moving out of town and need to load a heavy box of mass m off of the ground and into the back of the moving truck. You can either pick the box straight up and set it in the truck (a height h above the ground) or slide the box a distance L up a ramp into the back of the truck. Assume the ramp has good rollers on it, so that it is frictionless. Which way of loading the box requires more work?

A) Lifting the box straight up off the ground requires more work.

B) Sliding the box up the roller-ramp requires more work.

C) Lifting the box straight up and sliding the box up the ramp require the same amount of work.

D) It could be either... but you must know the mass m of the box to answer this question.

E) It could be either... but you must know the lengths L and h to answer this question.

Answer 1

Lifting the box straight up requires more work compared to sliding it up the ramp.

Step-by-step explanation:

In order to determine which way of loading the box requires more work, we need to consider the work done in each scenario. Work is equal to force multiplied by distance. When lifting the box straight up, the work done is equal to the weight of the box multiplied by the height it is lifted. When sliding the box up the ramp, the work done is equal to the force required to overcome the gravitational force multiplied by the distance of the ramp. Since the work done in lifting the box straight up is greater than the work done in sliding it up the ramp, the answer is option A) Lifting the box straight up requires more work.