Question

You need to push a heavy box across a rough floor, and you want to minimize the average force applied to the box during the time the box is being pushed. Which method for pushing results in the minimum average force being applied to the box? a. Keep pushing the box forward at a steady speed, b. Push the box forward a short distance, rest, then repeat until finished, c. Push the box so that it accelerates forward at a constant rate.

Answer 1

When pushing the body it is necessary to break the frictional force generated by the floor. Once this frictional force is overcome, the body will begin to move. Ideally, if a constant velocity is maintained or close to this value, the acceleration that will be exerted will tend to be zero and therefore, by Newton's second law the value of the Force will also tend to minimum values.

Remember that this law tells us that

$F= ma$

$F= m \frac{\Delta v}{t}$

Therefore the best strategy is A. keep pushing the box forward at a steady speed