The Uphill Roller Demo

P115/P116 Laboratory Demonstration #23

* An object rolls up a slight incline
* The object's center of gravity moves downward
* The maximum incline is calculated

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The uphill roller is generally only used as a quick, in-class demonstration to encourage a small amount of critical thinking by the students. There is an option to require the class to find a maximum incline for the ramp such that the object would remain steady in equilibrium. This requires measuring the height of the roller and the angle the surface makes with the ground.

The apparatus can be found in Rockerfeller 302.