Question

Aunt Mary needs to hang a picture in her bedroom. She uses a hammer to drive the nail into the wall. Find the force exerted by the hammer on the nail if the hammer stays in contact with the nail for 0.4s and has an impulse of 32Ns.

Answer 1

t = time of contact of hammer with the nail = 0.4 sec

I = impulse exerted by the hammer on the nail = 32 N s

F = force applied by the hammer on the nail

we know that , impulse is given as

I = F t                  where I = impulse , F = force , t = time

hence the impulse of hammer on nail is given as

I = F t

inserting the values

32 Ns = F (0.4 sec)

F = 32/0.4

F = 80 N

hence the force exerted by the hammer comes out to be 80 N