Question

Two students walk through the grass both have a mass of 60kg, one student is wearing

high heels with a surface area of .45 cm and the other is wearing wide heals with a
surface area of 74 cm. Calculate how much pressure each student applies to the
ground. Why might one student sink into the ground?

Answer 1

We have,

• Mass of both students is 60 kg
• Surface area of heels of one student say A is 0.45 cm² = 0.45/10000 m²
• Surface area of heals of another student say B is 74 cm² = 74/10000 m²

And we know that,

• Pressure = Force/area

Here, area is provided but the force applied will be due to the acceleration of gravity so,

• F = ma
• F = 60 × 9.8
• F = 588

Now, let us calculate the pressure applied by both students;

Pressure(Student A)

• P = 588/0.45 × 10000
• P = 58800 × 10000/45
• P = 1306.6 × 10000
• P = 1306000.0 pascal

Pressure(Student B)

• P = 588/74 × 10000
• P = 5880000/74
• P = 7837.83

From the above two solutions we can say that, Pressure(Student A) > Pressure(student B)

And thus we can also say that,

Student A, i.e the one wearing high heels has a greater chance of sinking into the ground as it is applying a higher pressure on the ground than B.