Question

Ice skates are very narrow and the blades put a greater pressure on the ice than if you just wore shoes. This increased pressure melts the ice and reduces friction so you can move more quickly.

A skater wants to buy some super-fast ice skates that she has seen advertised. She weighs 600 newtons. Her present skates are 30 cm long and the blade is 0.5 cm wide.

What is the pressure of one blade on the ice if all her weight is on it?

Answer 1

The pressure of one blade on the ice when a skater who weighs 600 newtons is using the blade is 400,000 Pascals (Pa), calculated using the formula P = Force / Area after converting the area from square centimeters to square meters.

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate the pressure of one blade on the ice when a skater who weighs 600 newtons is using the blade, we need to use the formula for pressure, which is Pressure (P) = Force (F) / Area (A).

In this scenario, the force is the weight of the skater, which is 600 newtons. The area of the blade is the product of its length and width, so Area (A) = 30 cm * 0.5 cm = 15 cm². However, we need to convert this area into square meters (m²) to match the units of the force. To convert square centimeters to square meters, we divide by 10,000: 15 cm² / 10,000 = 0.0015 m².

Now, we can calculate the pressure: P = 600 N / 0.0015 m² = 400,000 Pascals (Pa), which is the pressure exerted by one skate blade if all the skater's weight were on it.