At the school site, a boy is digging a bed by pressing a shovel with a force of 500 N. What pressure does a shovel

At the school site, a boy is digging a bed by pressing a shovel with a force of 500 N. What pressure does a shovel exert on the soil if its blade is 20 cm wide and its cutting edge is 0.5 mm thick?

Given:

F = 500 Newton – the force with which the boy pushes the shovel when working on the school site;

a = 20 centimeters = 0.2 meters – the width of the shovel blade;

b = 0.5 millimeters = 0.0005 meters – the thickness of the cutting edge of the shovel.

It is required to determine P (Pascal) – the pressure exerted by the shovel on the soil.

Assuming that the cutting edge of the shovel has the geometric shape of a rectangle, we find its area:

s = a * b = 0.2 * 0.0005 = 0.0001 m2 (square meter).

Then, the pressure exerted by the shovel will be equal to:

P = F / s = 500 / 0.0001 = 5,000,000 Pascal = 5 MPa.

Answer: The shovel exerts a pressure of 5 MPa on the soil.