Luisa uses a nutcracker to crack walnuts. She has to squeeze the handles 12 centimeters to crack a walnut. The part of the arms holding the walnut only move 0.3 centimeters. If Luisa applies 21 Newtons of force to crack the walnut, how much force would she need without the nutcracker?(1 point)
Responses
61 N
61 N
840 N
840 N
84 N
84 N
0.525 N
The correct answer is 840 N.
To determine the force without the nutcracker, we can use the principle of leverage. The nutcracker acts as a lever with the handles as the input (effort) arm and the part holding the walnut as the output (load) arm. The lever arm ratio is calculated by dividing the length of the input arm by the length of the output arm.
Length of input arm = 12 cm = 0.12 m
Length of output arm = 0.3 cm = 0.003 m
Lever arm ratio = Length of input arm / Length of output arm
= 0.12 m / 0.003 m
= 40
According to the principle of leverage, the force without the nutcracker is equal to the force with the nutcracker multiplied by the lever arm ratio.
Force without nutcracker = Force with nutcracker * Lever arm ratio
= 21 N * 40
= 840 N
Therefore, Luisa would need 840 Newtons of force without the nutcracker to crack the walnut.