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Have come across that acceleration of center of mass is the net force divided by the total mass,

my query is if a block of mass m is placed on an incline of mass M and the incline is dragged to the right by a horizontal force F, all surfaces being frictionless,

enter image description here

this case is bit complicated since the block is sliding down the incline and the incline itself is moving right by the force F,

will acceleration of center of mass be given by the same same expression,

$a = F/(M + m)$

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2 Answers 2

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You are correct and to justify it, consider the system M+m. The only external force in the x direction is F, therefore the acceleration of its center of mass is : $ a_{cm} = \frac{F}{M+m} $

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  • $\begingroup$ You have found the horizontal component of the centre of mass of the block and incline system but what about the vertical acceleration of the centre of mass? Is that zero with a vertical gravitational mass acting? $\endgroup$
    – Farcher
    Commented Aug 24, 2022 at 22:19
  • $\begingroup$ So if the horizontal force $F$ was zero, the centre of mass of the system would not change even though the block is sliding down the slope? $\endgroup$
    – Farcher
    Commented Aug 24, 2022 at 22:35
  • $\begingroup$ Free body diagram of block on accelerating wedge $\endgroup$
    – Farcher
    Commented Aug 24, 2022 at 22:40
  • $\begingroup$ @Farcher There are two vertical external forces: gravity and the normal force on the bottom of the incline. But they do not cancel out because of the downward acceleration of the small mass. $ (M+m)g-F_{N}=m~a_{y}$ . So you are right to say that the center of mass of the system moves down. $\endgroup$
    – Shaktyai
    Commented Aug 25, 2022 at 2:10
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In classical mechanics, Newton's Second Principle of Dynamics states that the time derivative of the momentum of a system is equal to the resultant of the external forces,

$ \dfrac{d \mathbf{Q}}{dt} = \mathbf{R}^e $.

It's quite easy to prove that the momentum van be written as the product of the total mass of the system and the velocity of its centre of mass, $\mathbf{Q} = m^{tot} \mathbf{v}_G$. If the system is close (i.e. doesn't exchange mass with the environment, so that its mass is constant in classical mechanics), it's possible to write the Second Principle of Dynamics as

$ m^{tot} \dfrac{d \mathbf{v}_G}{dt} = \mathbf{R}^e \qquad$ i.e. $\qquad m^{tot} \mathbf{a}_G = \mathbf{R}^e $.

Before going on, please remember that force, acceleration (and velocity and position) are vector quantities and the Second Principle of Dynamics is a vector equation. In a 2D problem, like the one depicted in the image, you need to write down two components, here let's call them $x$ in the horizontal direction, and $y$ the vertical direction

$x: \quad m^{tot} a_{G,x} = F$

$y: \quad m^{tot} a_{G,y} = N_y - m^{tot} g$,

being $m^{tot} = m + M$ the total mass of the system, $F$ the horizontal external force applied, $N_y$ the normal reaction acting to the lower surface of the triangle due to the presence of the horizontal frictionless surface where the system is sliding, and $g$ the gravity field.

From the first equation, you can readily get the horizontal component of the acceleration of the centre of mass

$ a_{G,x} = \dfrac{F}{m^{tot}} = \dfrac{F}{m + M}$,

while in the y-equation you have two unknowns, $N_y$ and $a_y$, so that you need another independent equation to solve the problem.

In general the reaction $N_y$ and the weight of the system do not cancel out.

TODO: solve the problem for $a_{G, y}$

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