Question
Question: Suppose you are assigned to stop a block which is moving eastwards, a force of some magnitude is sur...
Suppose you are assigned to stop a block which is moving eastwards, a force of some magnitude is surely required to stop it. What could be the best possible direction of a force to stop that moving block from motion at the earliest ?
Solution
Hint : In physics, Newton's Second Law of Motion states that when the forces acting on an object are unbalanced, Newton's second law of motion states that the object will accelerate. This acceleration is determined by the object's mass and the net forces acting on it. When a known force acts on an object of known mass, acceleration can be measured using this law.
Complete step-by-step answer :
In this question, we are assigned to stop a block which is moving eastwards, a force of some magnitude is surely required to stop it.
We need to find out the best possible direction of a force to stop that moving block from motion at the earliest.
Because the block is moving eastwards, a force of a certain magnitude acting westwards would be the best possible direction for the box to be stopped in the shortest amount of time.
From here, we can deduce that force is a physical quantity that must be defined in terms of both magnitude and direction of action. We can't talk about a force's effect unless we know where it's coming from.
So, the correct answer is “Westwards”.
Note : Force is the push or pull that an object with mass feels that causes its velocity to shift. A force is an external entity capable of altering a body's state of rest or motion. There is a magnitude and a path to it.
We use the formula for finding force, F=ma
where,
F= Force
m= Mass
a= Acceleration.