I don't know how to find the normal force on this problem

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Homework Help Overview

The problem involves a 3.0 kg wood box sliding down a vertical wall while being pushed at an angle of 49°. Participants are discussing how to determine the normal force acting on the box, considering the forces involved, including gravity, normal force, kinetic friction, and the applied force.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Assumption checking, Problem interpretation

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants discuss the need to draw a free body diagram and question how to set up the equations of motion. There is uncertainty about the role of friction and how to relate the applied force to the normal force.

Discussion Status

Some participants have offered guidance on neglecting friction due to the unknown coefficient and emphasized the importance of applying Newton's second law in both x and y directions. There is ongoing exploration of how to express the forces involved and their relationships.

Contextual Notes

Participants note that the problem may have expected them to find the coefficient of kinetic friction for wood, which is given as 0.2. There is also mention of needing to establish the correct relationships between the forces without assuming known values for all variables.

xstetsonx
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1. A m = 3.0 kg wood box slides down a vertical wood wall while you push on it at a θ = 49° angle. What magnitude of force should you apply to cause the box to slide down at a constant speed?

2. Fk-Mk*n


3. i know there are 4 forces acting on the object. gravity, normal force from the wall, kinetic friction, and the force that i applied. but i do not know how to set up the equation to solve this problem
 
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Do you know how to draw a free body diagram?
 
yea i did one but the n is on the x-axis so that means i need to know the F to get the normal force right?
 
First off, you have to neglect friction since you do not know the kinetic friction coefficient of the surface. Second, the normal force doesn't cause the block to move in what you defined to be the x direction. Are you using Newton's second law for net force in the x and y directions?
 
Vykan12 said:
First off, you have to neglect friction since you do not know the kinetic friction coefficient of the surface. Second, the normal force doesn't cause the block to move in what you defined to be the x direction. Are you using Newton's second law for net force in the x and y directions?

o i am sorry this question some how expected us to find the coefficient of kinetic friction on wood which is 0.2. and yes
 
Welcome to PF!

Hi xstetsonx! Welcome to PF! :wink:
xstetsonx said:
i need to know the F to get the normal force right?

No, you don't need to know F, you can just call it F.

For constant speed, you need zero acceleration, which means zero net force in both the x and y direction.

So call the force F, find N, and then find µN. :smile:
 
so the total force will be
mK*Fcos49-mg+Fsin49?
 
xstetsonx said:
so the total force will be
mK*Fcos49-mg+Fsin49?

Yes, except I'm not sure about that m at the beginning.
 
You should get

[tex]F_{app} - F_{k} - mg\sin(\theta) = 0[/tex]
[tex]n - mg\cos(\theta) = 0[/tex]

The algebra's up to you.

Edit:

so the total force will be
mK*Fcos48-mg+Fsin48?

Yes, that's correct, assuming F is the force of gravity.
 

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