Tuesday, October 29, 2013

When the Normal Force is not Normal

As we learned about friction in class, we were introduced to the concept of the normal force. Many times, the normal force is exactly equal to the force of gravity on the object. However, this is not always the case. Can you think of any situations where the normal force is not simply equal to the object's weight? Leave comments with your ideas so that each idea is in its own comment.

Alternatively, do you have any questions about either the normal force or friction?
Posted by Brian Bearss at 7:50 AM

5 comments:

  1. EFullerOctober 29, 2013 at 9:00 PM

    i think if u are on another planet the normal force wouldnt be the same as your weight because the force of gravity isnt the same

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  2. T.D. (4th)October 30, 2013 at 5:14 PM

    I'm thinking that an object's position relative to the direction that gravity's going is more important than the force of gravity itself. If an object is on an angle, and since the normal force is perpendicular to the object, gravity wouldn't necessarily be equal to what the object's normal force is. I guess a car going down or up a steep hill would be an example of this.

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  3. AnonymousOctober 31, 2013 at 7:43 AM

    G.W. (6th)
    I'm not sure if i am exactly one hundred percent correct but what if not just gravity but wind or Air resistance as if it was falling.

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  4. AnonymousOctober 31, 2013 at 3:01 PM

    S.F.(6th)
    Going off what T.D. said what if a car was stuck in the trough of a very steep hill, and on both sides of the hill the bumpers where holding the car up and the wheels were not touching the ground. Assuming the car is flat at an angle of 180 degrees. would the normal force be evenly distributed between the two hills (supports) keeping it up or would the normal force be different because of the addition of the "second" support force?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Brian BearssNovember 4, 2013 at 8:26 AM

    Thanks for the comments this week.

    ReplyDelete

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