A woman wearing high-heeled shoes stands on a wooden floor. Her total weight is 480N and acts equally on each foot.
Sometimes all this weight acts on the heels of her shoes. What is the pressure under her heels?
240n/2cm^2
To calculate the pressure under the woman's heels, we need to divide the force (weight) acting on the heels by the area over which the force is distributed. In this case, the force acting on the heels is 240N (half of her total weight of 480N), and the area is given as 2 cm^2.
The formula to calculate pressure is:
Pressure = Force / Area
Substituting the values given:
Pressure = 240N / 2 cm^2
Before we proceed with the calculation, it's important to note that the units of force and area should be in the same system. In this case, we need to convert the area from cm^2 to m^2, as the SI unit for pressure is Pascal (Pa), which is equivalent to N/m^2.
To convert cm^2 to m^2, we divide by 10,000 (since there are 10,000 cm^2 in 1 m^2):
2 cm^2 / 10,000 = 0.0002 m^2
Now we can calculate the pressure:
Pressure = 240N / 0.0002 m^2
Now let's divide the force by the area:
Pressure = 1,200,000 N/m^2
Alternatively, we can express the pressure in kilopascals (kPa) by dividing by 1000:
Pressure = 1200 kPa
Therefore, the pressure under her heels is 1,200,000 N/m^2 or 1200 kPa.