Question

Given a board of area 1.00 m^2. If a weight of 1.00 N is placed on the board then the pressure on it is 1.00 Pa. What weight should be placed on the board to double the pressure on it? A)1,220 N B)3,270 N C)1,340 N D)1,730 N E)2.00 N

Answer 1

If the pressure on the board is doubled, it means that the pressure is now:

P = 2*1.00 Pa = 2.00Pa

Use the following formula for the pressure and solve for the force F:

$\begin{gathered} P=\frac{F}{A} \\ F=A\cdot P \end{gathered}$

where A is the area of the board (1.00m^2) and F the force exerted on the area (in this case the weight).

Then, by replacing the values of A and P you obtain:

$\begin{gathered} F=1.00m^2\cdot2.00Pa \\ F=1.00m^2\cdot2.00\frac{N}{m^2} \\ F=2.00N \end{gathered}$

where you have considered that 1Pa = 1N/m^2.

Hence, the required weight is 2.00N