Two wooden crates are fastened together and slide as a single unit across a warehouse…
PHYSICS · Multi-part · AP · Physics 1: Algebra-based · Force and Translational Dynamics · Force and Translational Dynamics
Problem
Two wooden crates are fastened together and slide as a single unit across a warehouse floor.
Top crate mass: 10kg
Bottom crate mass: 25kg
Coefficient of kinetic friction between the bottom crate and the floor: μk=0.40
Friction between the two crates is negligible.
A worker intends to accelerate the combined system horizontally.
(a) Determine the magnitude of the normal force exerted by the floor on the bottom crate while the two crates remain stacked.
(b) Calculate the magnitude of the kinetic friction force acting on the bottom crate.
(c) Find the minimum constant horizontal force that must be applied to the bottom crate to produce an acceleration of 1.5ms−2 for the stacked system.
(d) Suppose the top crate is removed, and the same horizontal force found in part (c) is applied to the 25kg crate alone. Compute the new acceleration of the single crate.