# my favorite mechanics problem

Students in a high school class were playing with ramps and pulleys and carts and had to design a modified Atwood's machine. One group created the setup in the attached image. Depending on the position of the pulley, the mass of the cart and counter weight and the angle of the track the resulting motion is periodic. I would like to challenge anyone who reads this note to turn this simple setup into a problem for Brilliant's mechanics section.

Note by David Garcia
7 years, 6 months ago

This discussion board is a place to discuss our Daily Challenges and the math and science related to those challenges. Explanations are more than just a solution — they should explain the steps and thinking strategies that you used to obtain the solution. Comments should further the discussion of math and science.

When posting on Brilliant:

• Use the emojis to react to an explanation, whether you're congratulating a job well done , or just really confused .
• Ask specific questions about the challenge or the steps in somebody's explanation. Well-posed questions can add a lot to the discussion, but posting "I don't understand!" doesn't help anyone.
• Try to contribute something new to the discussion, whether it is an extension, generalization or other idea related to the challenge.

MarkdownAppears as
*italics* or _italics_ italics
**bold** or __bold__ bold

- bulleted
- list

• bulleted
• list

1. numbered
2. list

1. numbered
2. list
Note: you must add a full line of space before and after lists for them to show up correctly
paragraph 1

paragraph 2

paragraph 1

paragraph 2

> This is a quote
This is a quote
# I indented these lines
# 4 spaces, and now they show
# up as a code block.

print "hello world"
# I indented these lines
# 4 spaces, and now they show
# up as a code block.

print "hello world"
MathAppears as
Remember to wrap math in $$...$$ or $...$ to ensure proper formatting.
2 \times 3 $2 \times 3$
2^{34} $2^{34}$
a_{i-1} $a_{i-1}$
\frac{2}{3} $\frac{2}{3}$
\sqrt{2} $\sqrt{2}$
\sum_{i=1}^3 $\sum_{i=1}^3$
\sin \theta $\sin \theta$
\boxed{123} $\boxed{123}$

Sort by:

Who is the father of electricity

- 7 years, 6 months ago

It's true that the electomagnetism can help to communicate us?

- 7 years, 6 months ago

who is the 3 inventors of transistor?

- 7 years, 6 months ago

what are the 3 particles of radiation?

- 7 years, 6 months ago

If the alpha particles has a bigger ionizing powe and how about beta and gamma particles?

- 7 years, 6 months ago

We can write tension in the string as a function of distance moved. It's easy to show it's periodic.

- 6 years, 7 months ago