Force and acceleration problem

[3ephemeralwnd]

Homework Statement

A testing laboratory wants to determine if a new widget can wistand large accelerations and decelerations. to find out, they glue a 5.0 kg widget to a test stand that will drive it vertically up and down. the graph shows its acceleration during the first second, starting from rest.
[I can't really put the graph on here, but basically its an acceleration-time graph, the initial acceleration is 19.6 m/s^2 (at t=0), and at the end of the graph (t=1) the acceleration is -19.6 m/s^2, with acceleration = 0 at the halfway point (t=1/2)]
a) identify the forces acting on the widget and draw a free-body diagram
b) determine the value of Ny, the y-component of the normal force acting on the widget, during the first second of motion. give your answer as a graph of Ny vs TThe attempt at a solution
There are actualy more parts to this question, however my issue is that I don't really understand the set-up of the situation.. from my understanding, the bottom of the object is glued onto a test stand, which moves up and down. if this is the case, shoudln't the entire normal force be in the Y-direction anyway? The question seems to imply that there is also an x-component as well.

any thoughts?

 

[PhanthomJay]

Homework Statement

A testing laboratory wants to determine if a new widget can wistand large accelerations and decelerations. to find out, they glue a 5.0 kg widget to a test stand that will drive it vertically up and down. the graph shows its acceleration during the first second, starting from rest.
[I can't really put the graph on here, but basically its an acceleration-time graph, the initial acceleration is 19.6 m/s^2 (at t=0), and at the end of the graph (t=1) the acceleration is -19.6 m/s^2, with acceleration = 0 at the halfway point (t=1/2)]
a) identify the forces acting on the widget and draw a free-body diagram
b) determine the value of Ny, the y-component of the normal force acting on the widget, during the first second of motion. give your answer as a graph of Ny vs T


The attempt at a solution
There are actualy more parts to this question, however my issue is that I don't really understand the set-up of the situation.. from my understanding, the bottom of the object is glued onto a test stand, which moves up and down. if this is the case, shoudln't the entire normal force be in the Y-direction anyway? The question seems to imply that there is also an x-component as well.

any thoughts?

I agree with you. Perhaps the question was an attempt to test the knowledge of the reader regarding the direction of the normal force. As you note, it can only be in the y direction. The test stand behaves similarly to a massless, frictionless, ideal spring with a 5 kg object attached to it, compressed, and released from rest, over the first second of motion.