A person is leaning against a wall with her hand straight outpushing against the

Question

A person is leaning against a wall with her hand straight outpushing against the wall. Compare the force exerted by herhand on the wall to that exerted by the wall on her hand.

1.    1. Is theforce exerted by the wall on the person’s hand passive oractive? Explain.

2.    2.Compare theforce exerted by the person’s feet on the floor to the forceexerted by   the floor on her feet. What is thetype of force exerted by the floor on her feet called?

3. Is the force the person in exerts on the floor passive oractive? Explain.

Explanation / Answer

Due to Newton's law that every action has an equal andopposite reaction, comparing the force of the hand on the wall andthe wall on the hand shows that they are equal. Active force is force exerted by an animate object, andpassive force is force exerted by an inanimate object. Therefore, the force exerted by the wall is passive. As above, the force by the feet on the floor and by the flooron the feet is equal. This is called the Normal Force, whichis the force exerted by a surface equal to what is exerting forceon it, preventing the surface from breaking. The forece the person exerts on the floor is active, as theperson is animate.

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