Question

A carpenter is building a staircase. he hammers the nail with 3 n of force for 0.1 s. he finds he must double the amount of force so the nail inserts into the wood. how does doubling the force affect the impulse?

Answer 1

Doubling the force exerted on a nail while keeping the time of application constant doubles the impulse delivered to the nail, from 0.3 Ns to 0.6 Ns.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question concerns the concept of impulse in physics, which is the product of force and the time over which the force is applied. The impulse experienced by an object is equal to the change in momentum of that object. When the carpenter doubles the force exerted on the nail, the impulse also doubles, assuming the time period of the force application remains the same.

To illustrate, initially a force (F) of 3 Newtons is used for a time (t) of 0.1 seconds, so the impulse (I) is calculated as:

I = F * t
I = 3 N * 0.1 s
I = 0.3 Ns (Newton-seconds)

Upon doubling the force to 6 Newtons and keeping the time same at 0.1 seconds, the new impulse will be:

I = F * t
I = 6 N * 0.1 s
I = 0.6 Ns (Newton-seconds)

Therefore, doubling the force while maintaining the same period of time for the force to act results in doubling the impulse imparted to the nail.