HOW WILL AN OBJECT RESTING ON AN INCLINED PLANE WITH A POINTED END MOVE?¹⁾

An object with a pointed edge on an inclined plane at rest initially will have a variety of possible types of motion. The basic motions are sliding and rotation. There are 9 types of motion in total. The paper predicts what can actually happen, and presents the conditions for each type of motion. Our analyses show that the key factors influencing the dynamics of the object are the friction and the mass distribution. For objects with the center of mass locating on the top side of the inclined plane with respect to the pointed edge of the object, only the pure backward or forward rotation happens, sliding down combining with backward or forward rotation. If the center of mass is on the base side of the inclined plane, the object on the inclined plane will have a pure forward rotation or slide down as it rotates backward or forward. The problem can be used for teaching purposes to bring the students with the first taste of research.