Question: This man (CM shown) is trying hard to move his car, but the car is not budging. He figures that because he wants the

This man (CM shown) is trying hard to move his car, butthe car is not budging. He figures that because he wants the

This man (CM shown) is trying hard to move his car, but the car is not budging. He figures that because he wants the car to accelerate horizontally it is best that he pushes with a purely horizontal force. He encounters two problems: a) His feet slip on the pavement when he pushes as hard as he can, but the car still doesn't move, and b) He feels like he's going to tip over backwards when he pushes as hard as he can. He thinks through the problems and would like to move his back foot further from the car to help alleviate the tipping problem, but his body length does not allow this. He has another thought to change the orientation of the force that he applies to the car so that the force is no longer purely horizontal but now has an upward component. 1) Use mechanical reasoning to show how changing the orientation of his force on the car (without changing his posture, that is, not changing his arm position or body position) could help to solve both problems he encounters with the horizontally oriented force. To do this, show the relevant equations that relate to the conditions of slipping and of tipping. Then use those equations to show how the slipping and tipping tendencies are reduced with the new force orientation. Note that to evaluate this without being given specific numerical descriptions you can either present your argument using variables, some of which are fixed (geometry) and some of which can change (forces), or you can estimate reasonable numbers from the drawing to complete your equations. 2) With this new force orientation, he finds that it is easier to move his hands up a bit on the car so that now his hands are above a horizontal line through his shoulders. Use mechanical reasoning to show how this change in arm posture makes his job easier. By easier we typically mean that less muscle force is needed.

Step by Step Solution

There are 3 Steps involved in it

1 Expert Approved Answer
Step: 1 Unlock blur-text-image
Question Has Been Solved by an Expert!

Get step-by-step solutions from verified subject matter experts

Step: 2 Unlock
Step: 3 Unlock

Students Have Also Explored These Related Physics Questions!