Feb 15 2011
Truck Loading Ramp
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Truck Loading Ramp

Loading appliance in a truck?
How would a load a refrigerator into a pickup truck. I would like to keep the refrigerator vertical. I have a dolley, but How to I get it in the truck? Do I need to buy a special ramp? Is a 4 x 8 piece of plywood safe to use as a ramp?
get 2 guys and lift it in the truck its what we do at our house. or put a black on the tailgate and push it up on there but if u feel safe goin up on the plywood then do it
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How To Use A U-Haul Truck Loading Ramp
Can someone help me answer this conceptual question about Work?
Furniture movers wish to load a truck using a ramp from the ground to the rear of the truck. One of the movers claims that less work would be required if the ramp's length were increased, reducing its angle with the horizontal. Is this claim valid? Explain.
I know that less work is done if high is increased but thats only when moving it down the ramp but moving it up i'd assume its harder. I dont really knowhow to explain this in a convincing way though
No less work is done by using a ramp. The furniture begins at rest on the ground, and ends at rest up in the bed of the truck. The increase in total mechanical energy (all potential energy + KE) is purely due to the GPE change of the furniture, which only depends on furniture mass, elevation change, and Earth's local gravity (it is the product of all of those).
The work done by the non-conservative human forces on the furniture is the same, regardless of path, as long as no other non-conservative forces come in to play in either situation. This work done is the same in either situation, because the increase in total mechanical energy is the same in either situation.
Why then is it easier to use a ramp? The ramp is a simple machine. It enables trading of force for distance, such that we, as humans, can apply less force. We pay for this, because we must apply a force for a larger distance. The work done by the humans is the same, all the ramp does is reduce the force.
Perhaps within our muscular system is ultimately is less work, due to the physical mechanism of human muscles. BUT, we only care about the work exerted once it leaves the arms of the laborers.
Remember that I said "as long as no other non-conservative forces come in to play in either situation", examples of which are unavoidable (friction, air drag, etc). We don't understand how to deal with them, so we ignore them unless otherwise desired to discuss.
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