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Consider this diagram:

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Mass m1 can only move in the x direction and mass m2 in the y direction. Find the acceleration of both m1 and m2, and the reaction of the wedge. Negligible Friction.

I tried attempting to solve this problem by finding the normal force on m1 from m2, and what its horizontal movement component was, however I couldn't quite understand it. How would I solve this?

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Using this algorithm you can solve almost all of high school mechanics(except rotational mechanics):

  1. I will ignore the wheel at the end of the rod since friction is negligible and therefore no rolling.

  2. Draw the free body diagram for the experiment.

  3. Find the constraint equation(In this case, the wedge and the rod should always stay in contact, i.e. the acceleration of rod and wedge along the line perpendicular to tangent at point of contact are equal).

  4. The accerleration of the rod and the wedge can now be calculated by simple artihmetic.

enter image description here

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