Question

Work done by normal contact force on an object can be non-zero. Explain this statement.

Answer 1

1. For example, when an object is placed in the elevator it is accelerating upward.
2. The normal force on the object by the floor of the elevator will increase due to the pseudo force exerted on the object and becomes greater than the weight of an object due to which objects move in the upward direction.
3. Thus, for the person standing on the ground, the normal reaction is doing positive work.
4. Yes, the normal force can do non-zero work on an object.