Physics · Unit 2: Dynamics ·  Problem 2-3-1

Loading Dock Ramp Hazard

🚧 PROBLEM

A ramp somewhere on campus has a sliding hazard — a wheelchair ramp, a loading dock, a hallway incline. You diagnose the forces at play and recommend a real fix, backed by your own measurements and calculations  ·  5 class days

Synthesizingall of Unit 2 — forces, friction, F=ma, inclines

🧭 Problem Summary

Somewhere on your campus, a real ramp — a wheelchair ramp, a loading dock, a steep hallway — has people worried about things (or people) sliding when they shouldn't. There's no data packet for this one. You choose the site, measure it yourself, and figure out whether there's an actual physics-backed hazard or not.

If you find a real hazard, you propose a specific fix — different surface material, a different angle, traction strips, whatever's realistic — and you prove with a calculation that your fix would actually solve the problem, not just guess that it might.

The five days

1Choose and document your site — what makes it a hazard concern?
2Measure the ramp's actual angle.
3Estimate or measure the coefficient of friction of its real surface.
4Analyze the hazard and design a fix, with a calculation proving it would work.
5Write and finalize your site diagnosis report.

Why it matters

Project 2-2-4 handed you a controlled lab ramp with materials your teacher chose. This is the same physics on a ramp nobody built for a physics class — messier surfaces, an angle you have to measure yourself, and a fix that has to actually be buildable, not just mathematically correct.

🧩 Before You Start — Prerequisite Check

This problem draws on all of Unit 2. Check yourself honestly — if something's shaky, the review links in the sidebar are exactly what they're there for.