A box of box is at rest on the floor. Identify the forces acting on the box by drawing a free-body diagram.
To draw a free-body diagram of the box, we need to identify and represent all the forces acting on it. In this case, the box is at rest on the floor, so there are three main forces acting on it:
1. Weight: This force, also known as the gravitational force, acts vertically downward towards the center of the Earth. It can be represented by an arrow pointing downward.
2. Normal force: Since the box is at rest on the floor, the floor exerts an equal and opposite force called the normal force. It acts perpendicular to the surface of contact (in this case, pointing upwards) and prevents the box from sinking into the floor. It can be represented by an arrow pointing upward.
3. Friction force: If the box is on a rough surface, there may be a friction force acting parallel to the surface. Since the box is at rest, this force is static friction. It can act in either direction, opposing any potential motion. If we assume that there is no friction in this case, we can omit this force from the diagram.
The final free-body diagram of the box, assuming no friction, would show only the weight and normal force, as follows:
|---------|
| |
<- | Weight |
| |
|---------|
<- | Normal |
| Force |
| |
|_________|
To identify the forces acting on the box, we can draw a free-body diagram. A free-body diagram is a visual representation that shows all the forces acting on an object.
1. Start by drawing a simple outline of the box on a piece of paper.
2. Then, draw arrows to represent the different forces acting on the box.
3. First, there is the force of gravity pulling the box downward. This force is always present and can be represented by an arrow pointing down from the center of the box.
4. Since the box is at rest on the floor, there must be an equal and opposite force acting upwards called the normal force. The normal force is the force exerted by the floor on the box, balancing the gravitational force. Draw an arrow pointing upward from the floor to the center of the box to represent the normal force.
5. There are no other forces acting on the box at rest on the floor, so the free-body diagram would only show these two forces: the force of gravity and the normal force.
By drawing this free-body diagram, you have identified the forces acting on the box, which are gravity and the normal force.