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https://njctl.org/video/?v=2sU2PCYbuNg
Pushing Two Boxes
Two boxes on a table are pushed horizontally on a frictionless
surface by a force, Fapp, of 30.0 N. Box A has a mass of 5.00 kg;
Box B has a mass of 8.00 kg.
a. Draw a free body diagram for box A.
b. Draw a free body diagram for box B..
c. Find the acceleration, a, of the two boxes.
d. Find the force of box A on B, FBA.
Fapp = 30 N
A B
Pushing Two Boxes
Fapp = 30.0 N mA = 5.00 kg mB = 8.00 kg.
a. Draw a free body diagram for box A.
Fapp = 30 N
A B
FNA
FAB The applied force, Fapp, pushes box A to the right.
Fapp
Fapp does NOT push on box B at all. Contact
forces only act on the object that they actually
mAg touch.
a This problem is very similar to the "Pulling
Two Boxes" problem....
Pushing Two Boxes
Fapp = 30.0 N mA = 5.00 kg mB = 8.00 kg.
a. Draw a free body diagram for box A (cont.).
Fapp = 30 N
A B
FNA
FAB Box A pushes box B with a force, FBA, to the
Fapp
right.
Box B pushes back on box A with an equal
mAg magnitude force, FAB, as explained by
Newton's Third Law.
a
Pushing Two Boxes
Fapp = 30.0 N mA = 5.00 kg mB = 8.00 kg.
b. Draw a free body diagram for box B.
Fapp = 30 N
A B
FNB
FBA The only force acting on box B in the horizontal
direction is the force that box A exerts on box B.
The magnitude of FBA = FAB.
mBg
Fapp does NOT push on box B at all. Contact
a forces only act on the object that they actually
touch.
Pushing Two Boxes
Fapp = 30.0 N mA = 5.00 kg mB = 8.00 kg.
c. Find the acceleration, a, of the two boxes.
Fapp = 30 N
A B
The applied force will move both boxes together, so they will
have the same acceleration.
Pushing Two Boxes
Fapp = 30.0 N mA = 5.00 kg mB = 8.00 kg.
c. Find the acceleration, a, of the two boxes (cont.).
Start by writing the Newton's Second Law equations for box A.
Separate your forces and acceleration into the x direction
(horizontal) and the y direction (vertical).
a
FNA x direction ( )
FAB Fapp
mAg
Only include the highlighted
forces and acceleration in
the xdirection for now.
Pushing Two Boxes
Fapp = 30.0 N mA = 5.00 kg mB = 8.00 kg.
c. Find the acceleration, a, of the two boxes (cont.).
Continue with the ydirection forces and acceleration for box A.
a y direction ( )
FNA
FAB Fapp
mAg The box is not moving
up and down, so there
is no acceleration in
the y direction (a = 0)
Pushing Two Boxes
Fapp = 30.0 N mA = 5.0 kg mB = 8.0 kg
c. Find the acceleration, a, of the two boxes (cont.).
x direction y direction
a
FNA
FAB Fapp
These are the two equations for box A derived from
our FBD.
mAg
The y equation is only used to find the normal force,
which could be used to calculate a friction force.
Since there is no friction in this problem, we will only
work with the x direction equation.
Pushing Two Boxes
Fapp = 30.0 N mA = 5.0 kg mB = 8.0 kg
c. Find the acceleration, a, of the two boxes (cont.).
We need to repeat this process for Box B.
x direction y direction
a
FNB
FBA
mBg
As with box A, we're only interested in the
x direction equation, because there is no
friction in the problem.
Pushing Two Boxes
Fapp = 30.0 N mA = 5.0 kg mB = 8.0 kg
c. Find the acceleration, a, of the two boxes (cont.).
Each FBD gives us 2 equations, one in each direction.
Box A Box B
Only 2 equations are helpful in finding FBA:
Pushing Two Boxes
Fapp = 30.0 N mA = 5.0 kg mB = 8.0 kg
c. Find the acceleration, a, of the two boxes (cont.).
There are two simultaneous equations with two unknown
variables. Please refer back to the "Pushing Two Boxes"
problem for a complete discussion of simultaneous equations.
We will use the substitution method to solve these equations
and find the acceleration of the boxes.
Pushing Two Boxes
Fapp = 30.0 N mA =5.0 kg mB = 8.0 kg
c. Find the acceleration, a, of the two boxes (cont.).
We need to reduce the 2 equations and 2 unknowns to 1
equation and 1 unknown. Since FBA = FAB, replace FBA in the
second equation with FAB.
Pushing Two Boxes
Fapp = 30.0 N mA =5.0 kg mB = 8.0 kg
c. Find the acceleration, a, of the two boxes (cont.).
Substitute FAB = mBa into the first equation:
substitution
add mBa to both sides
switch sides
factor out a
divide both sides by (mA + mB)
Pushing Two Boxes
Fapp = 30.0 N mA =5.0 kg mB = 8.0 kg
c. Find the acceleration, a, of the two boxes (cont.).
Substitute in numerical values:
Pushing Two Boxes
Fapp = 30.0 N mA =5.0 kg mB = 8.0 kg
d. Find the force of box A on B, FBA.
Use the second equation as it has less math. Either equation will
work as FBA = FAB.
extra math
less math
The force of box A on B is less than
the applied force on box A.