A chair has a mass of 15kg.If a cat sits on the chair, and the cat has a mass of 5.4kg. What is the normal force on the chair?
To determine the normal force on the chair, we need to consider the forces acting on it. The normal force is the force exerted by a surface to support the weight of an object resting on it. In this case, the weight of the chair and the cat are acting downward, while the normal force acts upward to counterbalance the weight.
To find the normal force, we can use Newton's second law, which states that the net force acting on an object is equal to the mass of the object multiplied by its acceleration. Since the chair is at rest and not accelerating vertically, the net force on it is zero, and thus the normal force must be equal in magnitude to the weight of the chair and the cat.
The weight of an object is given by the formula W = mg, where W is the weight, m is the mass, and g is the acceleration due to gravity, which is approximately 9.8 m/s^2 on Earth.
So, the weight of the chair is Wc = mc * g, where mc is the mass of the chair and g is the acceleration due to gravity.
The weight of the cat is Wcat = mcat * g, where mcat is the mass of the cat and g is the acceleration due to gravity.
Therefore, the combined weight of the chair and cat is Wtot = Wc + Wcat.
By substituting the given values, we can calculate the weight of the chair and the cat, and subsequently determine the normal force on the chair.