Final answer:
The question deals with basic physics concepts, including friction, force, and Newton's laws of motion, relevant to determining forces and work done in various scenarios involving moving objects.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question presents a scenario involving basic physics principles such as friction, force, and Newton's laws of motion. When you push a 1.83-kg book and it takes 2.22 N to start sliding, the force mentioned is the static frictional force. Once the book is in motion, the force required to maintain constant speed is 1.55 N, which refers to the kinetic frictional force. If you push a book across a table with a force of 2 N and slide it 0.5 m, the work done is 1 J, as work is the product of force and distance in the direction of the force.
Applying Newton's second law twice and Newton's third law once, you can determine other quantities like the normal force exerted by the desk on a physics book. Newton's third law explains the interaction between objects, which in this case allows us to say that the desk exerts an upward force of 32 N on the physics book if that is the force due to gravity acting on it.
The concept of work and force interactions is critical in understanding these problems, as shown in several of the provided examples.