Video Transcript
What pressure is exerted by a 100-newton force applied to an area of 2.5 meters squared?
So in this question, we’ve been given two quantities: a force of 100 newtons and an area of 2.5 meters squared. We can label these as 𝐹 for force, which is 100 newtons, 𝐴 for area, which is 2.5 meters squared. And also we need to find out the pressure 𝑝. So we need a relationship that links together the force, the area, and the pressure.
Well, let’s say we’ve got an area 𝐴. We can take this area and distribute a force over it. At that point, we’re exerting a pressure. And we can recall that the pressure is defined as the force exerted per unit area. In other words, this is the same as saying pressure 𝑝 is equal to the force 𝐹 divided by the area 𝐴.
So in order to find the solution to our problem, we need to substitute in the values we’ve been given into this equation. 𝑝 is equal to 100, which is the force, divided by 2.5, which is the area. And that simplifies down to 40.
However, that’s not our final answer. We need to put the units in first. When we’ve got a force in newtons and an area in meters squared, then the unit of pressure is known as pascals and is written as capital P and lowercase a. So our final answer is that the pressure is 40 pascals.
