Question

A block that is 12 cm wide, 7cm long and 9 cm tall is kept on table top. Which of its surface will exert minimum pressure ? If weight is 6.3N, calculate pressure in such case.

Answer 1

The expression for the pressure is given as,
$Pressure=\frac{force}{area}$
Thus, we can say that maximum the area minimum will be the pressure exerted by the table. So in order to find the minimum pressure calculate the maximum area by using different combination as follows,
$$\begin{gathered} A_1=width\times lenght \\ {A}_2=width\times height \\ {A}_3=length\times height \\ {A}_4=width\times length \end{gathered}$$
So, maximum area will be for
$$\begin{gathered} A_2=0.12m\times 0.09m \\ {A}_2=0.0108m^2 \end{gathered}$$
And, the force will be equal to the weight of the object. So, the pressure will be,
$$\begin{gathered} P_2=\frac{6.3N}{0.0108m^2} \\ {P}_2=583.33N/m^2 \end{gathered}$$

Similarly, you can calculate the pressure for all the respective dimensions as well.