Question

As a woman walks, her entire weight is momentarily placed on one heel of her high-heeled shoes. Calculate the pressure exerted on the floor by the heel if it has an area of 1.43 cm2 and the woman's mass is 60.5 kg. Express the pressure in pascals. (In the early days of commercial flight, women were not allowed to wear high-heeled shoes because aircraft floors were too thin to withstand such large pressures.)

Answer 1

4.15 x 10^6 N

Step-by-step explanation:

Area, A = 1.43 cm^2 = 1.43 x 10^-4 m^2

mass, m = 60.5 kg

Weight, F = m g = 60.5 x 9.8 = 592.9 N

Pressure = Force / Area

P = Weight / Area

P = 592.9 / (1.43 x 10^-4)

P = 4.15 x 10^6 N