Physics - Calculating pressure in solids

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What is pressure?
Pressure is the force per unit area.

This means that the pressure a solid object exerts on another solid surface is its weight in newtons divided by its area in square metres.
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How do you calculate pressure in a solid?
pressure = force/area

where:
p is the unit of pressure in pascals. One pascal is 1 N/m2
f is the unit of force in newtons
a is the unit of area in m2
Area is calculated by the following equation:
area = length × width
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High Pressure Situation On A Solid
1) If you swing on one leg of a chair you exert four times the pressure.

2) Drawing pins have a large for your thumb to push. This has a large area, so it exerts a low pressure to your thumb. The sharp end has a very small area. The same pushing force pr
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Low Pressure Situation On A Solid
If you were standing on a frozen lake and the ice started to crack you could lie down to increase the area in contact with the ice. The same force (your weight) would apply, spread over a larger area, so the pressure would reduce. Snow shoes work in the s
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How does changing an object's force affect it's pressure?
If you walk through snow, you usually sink into it. This is because your shoes have a small surface area. Your weight is only spread out over a small area, so the pressure on the snow is high. However, you will not sink so far into the snow if you are on
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

How do you calculate pressure in a solid?

Back

pressure = force/area

where:
p is the unit of pressure in pascals. One pascal is 1 N/m2
f is the unit of force in newtons
a is the unit of area in m2
Area is calculated by the following equation:
area = length × width

Card 3

Front

High Pressure Situation On A Solid

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

Low Pressure Situation On A Solid

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

How does changing an object's force affect it's pressure?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5

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