What is the Normal Force Acting on a Chair with a Box on a Slanted Slope?

AI Thread Summary
The discussion revolves around calculating the normal force acting on a chair supporting a box on a slanted slope. Participants explore whether the normal force is the sum of the gravitational forces acting on the box and chair, considering components from the slanted slope. The complexity of free body diagrams (FBDs) is acknowledged, with suggestions to break down forces into x and y components for clarity. There is agreement that a cascading forces approach is valid for solving the problem. Further clarification on the masses involved and the specific situation is requested to provide more accurate feedback.
BSCS
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I'm trying to think up situations that will help me understand more complicated situations...

Let's say I have:

a box
on a slanted slope
on a chair
on the floor

The floor exerts a normal force on the chair. But, equal to what?

is it:

a box m_{1}gcos\theta

on a slanted slope m_{2}g

on a chair m_{3}g

on the floor

Is it the sum of these?

Also, would motion of the box along the inclined plane affect the result? It would seem to be "no".
 
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Have you tried drawing a FBD?
 
Yes, and it/they were getting complex, so I wanted to get some feedback. I came up with the force exerted down on the chair as having an x component and a y component (different from what I posted). From there I was thinking I could apply that vector to the FBD of the chair and come up with my answer. Is such a "cascading of forces" approach correct?
 
BSCS said:
Yes, and it/they were getting complex, so I wanted to get some feedback. I came up with the force exerted down on the chair as having an x component and a y component (different from what I posted). From there I was thinking I could apply that vector to the FBD of the chair and come up with my answer. Is such a "cascading of forces" approach correct?
Yes, from what I understand you to have described that is correct. Perhaps if you posted you FBD's we could comment further.
 
BSCS said:
Let's say I have:

a box
on a slanted slope
on a chair
on the floor

The floor exerts a normal force on the chair. But, equal to what?

is it:

a box m_{1}gcos\theta

on a slanted slope m_{2}g

on a chair m_{3}g

on the floor

Is it the sum of these?
Huh? Are you describing one situation (a box on a chair which is on a slanted slope?) or multiple situations? What are those masses?
 
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