88 OUTLINES OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 



'The more acute the wedge, the greater its power, or 

 the smaller the force required to overcome a given 

 resistance. 







147. When the wedge becomes an inclined 

 plane, with its base horizontal, if the direction of 

 the power be parallel to the plane, there will be 

 an equilibrium when the power is to the resistance, 

 as the height of the plane to its length, or as the 

 sine of its inclination to the radius. 



148. Universally there will be an equilibrium 

 on an inclined plane, when the power is to the re- 

 .sistance, as the sine of the inclination of the plane 

 to the cosine of the angle which the direction of 

 the power makes with the plane. 



Bossuf, Art. 263. Comment. Petrop. torn. u. p. 282. 



A wedge naay have the form of a pyramid, as well as 

 of a prism. In the case of a pyramidal wedge, the 

 ^forces that act must be resolved according to three 

 axes, by which three equations will be obtained. 



149. In a pyramidal wedge, where the triangu- 

 lar faces are inclined, at the same angle i, to the 

 base, to produce an equilibrium, the power must 

 be to the sum of the resistances, as the cosine of i 

 to the radius. 



Piercing 



