Force and work on a shopping cart

[aaronb]

Homework Statement

A shopper in a supermarket pushes a cart with a force of 35.0 N directed at an angle of 28.0° downward from the horizontal. Find the work done by the shopper on the cart as he moves down an aisle 46.0 m long.

What's going on?

Homework Equations

W = Force * displacement

The Attempt at a Solution

I used the formula above to get
F=35(cos(28))46= 1610

I don't know how else to approach the problem

 

[Delphi51]

I think your answer is correct. The vertical component of the force pushes the cart into the floor but there is no movement in that direction so it doesn't do any work. Only the 35*cos(28) component does work as you wrote.

 

[aaronb]

According to my homework website, I'm wrong from 10%-100%. =(

 

[The Liberator]

Maybe they are wrong?

It happens.

 

[alphysicist]

Hi aaronb,

Homework Statement

A shopper in a supermarket pushes a cart with a force of 35.0 N directed at an angle of 28.0° downward from the horizontal. Find the work done by the shopper on the cart as he moves down an aisle 46.0 m long.

What's going on?

Homework Equations

W = Force * displacement

The Attempt at a Solution

I used the formula above to get
F=35(cos(28))46= 1610

I believe you are making a calculator error here. When you did the calculation, you left out the trig function, because 35 x 46=1610.

 

[aaronb]

You're right!