Calculating Contact Forces Between Two Blocks Using Free Body Diagrams

TL;DR

This video explains how to calculate the contact force exerted by each block on the other based on their masses and acceleration.

Transcript

in this video we're going to talk about how to calculate the force exerted by each block on the other it's basically the contact force between the two blocks now it's important to understand that as we push the two blocks to the right the five kilogram block is going to exert a contact force on the 10 kilogram block and as a result the 10 kilogram ... Read More

Key Insights

• 💆 The acceleration of a system can be determined by dividing the total driving force by the total mass of the objects.
• 🪐 The contact force exerted by each block on the other can be found by subtracting the net force from the applied force.
• 👮 Newton's third law of motion states that forces always occur in pairs with equal but opposite magnitudes.
• 🚫 Kinetic friction can affect the calculation of contact forces by opposing the motion of the blocks.
• 🪛 Contact forces depend on the masses of the blocks and the applied force driving the system.
• 🚫 The contact force on each block can be determined separately to ensure accurate calculations.
• 💼 The contact force can be negative in cases where the force opposes the applied force.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• The video discusses how to calculate the force exerted by each block on the other using the concept of contact force and Newton's third law of motion.

• The first step is to find the acceleration of the system by dividing the total driving force by the total mass of the blocks.

• Once the acceleration is known, the contact force on each block can be calculated by subtracting the net force acting on the block from the applied force.