A triangular wedge A is held fixed and a block B is released on its inclined surface, from the top. Block B reaches the horizontal ground in time t. In another experiment, the wedge A was free to slide on the horizontal surface and it took t’ time for the block B to reach the ground surface after it was released from the top. Neglect friction and assume that B remains in contact with A.
(a) Which time is larger t or t´? Tell by simple observation.
(b) When wedge A was free to move, it was observed that it moved leftward with an acceleration `(g)/(4)` and one of the two measured times (t & t´) was twice the other. Find the inclination `theta` of the inclined surface of the wedge.

Answer

(a) `t gt t^(1)`
(b) `theta = tan^(-1) ((1)/(12))`