Science Fair, pressure to break a bone

Join the discussion
Ask a follow-up here, or get your own question answered by working scientists, mathematicians and engineers — people, not an autocomplete.
Real named experts · corrections over time · the nuance an AI answer skips
2 replies · 8K views
Tantastic
Messages
1
Reaction score
0

Homework Statement



Okay, basically I had a bone in ballistic gels, and I dropped a hexagon (6 sided) weight with the measurements of 1 and 1/2 inches per side from 1 feet, 1 1/2 feet and 2 feet on the ballistic gel enclosed bone. Basically I will need a formula to calculate the psi that he bone experienced.

Edit: I calculated the area of the weight to be 13 1/2 square inches, but please double check this.

According to http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/flobi.html , the N (Newton?) is 1599, can we convert it to PSI?

Homework Equations



How much PSI did the dropping weight cause on the bone?

The Attempt at a Solution



I tried to find a formula to calculate it, but was not really successful.


Edit: Okay, so the surface area is 13.5 square inches.. i do not know what formula to use to calculate PSI from this point.
 
Last edited:
Physics news on Phys.org
You can't calculate it. If the bone is stiff and doesn't bend a lot, it would exert a huge force; if it does bend a lot, it would exert a small force. You really need to have something push down on the bone with its weight rather than dropping something and hoping to calculate pressure that way.
 
pounds x 4.4 = Newtons

1599/4.4 = pounds

Pounds/Area(in^2) = psi