What Is an Inclined Plane?

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A water slide is a fun example of an inclined plane. The force of gravity pulls you to the bottom!
© www.istockphoto.com/Dragan Trifunovic
A water slide is a fun example of an inclined plane. The force of gravity pulls you to the bottom!

Inclined planes look very simple. However, they can help us do a lot of work with only a little effort. An inclined plane is a surface with one end raised above the other. The word “inclined” means “raised at one end.” An inclined plane is used to move an object from a lower place to a higher place or from a higher place to a lower place. We push the object along the surface of the plane.

The inclined plane is one of six simple machines. A simple machine is an object with few moving parts that helps us do a job. The other simple machines are the pulley, the lever, the wedge, the wheel and axle, and the screw.