Pressure between solids

Question 1

What does the term pressure refer to?

Answer 1

Pressure is the physical force exerted on an object per unit area.

Question 2

What is the equation liking pressure, force, and are, used the calculate the pressure?

Answer 2

Pressure= Force Area over

Question 3

What is the unit of pressure and why?

Answer 3

Since the unit of force is the newton and the unit of area is the meter squared (m²), centimeter squared (cm²), or millimeter squared (mm²), the unit of pressure is newtons per metre;centimetre;millimetre, or N/m2;cm2;mm2.

Question 4

What are the factors affecting pressure?

Answer 4

The factors affecting pressure are:
1. Force:
Increasing force increases pressure.
Decreasing force decreases pressure.
2. Surface Area:
Smaller surface area → Higher pressure.
Larger surface area → Lower pressure.

Question 5

Why does having a smaller are increase pressure, rather than decrease?

Answer 5

As pressure = force ÷ area, when the area is small, the denominator is smaller, making the overall value larger, and force applied over a small area is concentrated on that area, leading to a greater effect.

Question 6

What does it mean for an object to be sharp and why do sharp objects produce more pressure?

Answer 6

A sharp object has a small surface area in contact with another surface. This increases pressure, making cutting or piercing easier.

Question 7

When could it be important for an object to exert high pressure?

Answer 7

Higher pressure is useful when force needs to be concentrated (e.g., cutting, piercing, pushing).

Question 8

When could it be important for an object to exert low pressure?

Answer 8

Lower pressure is useful when force needs to be distrbuted (e.g., walking on soft surfaces, reducing injury risk).

Question 9

What is a point

Answer 9

A point is the sharp end of an object, such as the pin of a drawing pin.