A museum plans to display a marble sculpture (mass 150kg) on top of a transparent glass pedestal. To prevent cracking, the manufacturer of the pedestal specifies that the normal stress (pressure) on any portion of the glass must never exceed 5.0×104Pa. The sculpture will rest on four identical, flat silicone pads attached to its base; the pads share the load equally and their own weight is negligible.
(a) Compute the magnitude of the force that the sculpture exerts on the pedestal while at rest. Express your answer to two significant figures.
(b) Determine the minimum total contact area that the four silicone pads must provide so the pressure on the glass remains within the specified limit. Present your answer in square centimeters.
(c) The curator decides to include a 25% safety margin by limiting the working pressure to 75% of the manufacturer’s stated maximum. Recalculate the minimum total pad area required with this safety margin and comment on how engineering safety factors influence design choices in exhibit installations.