While rearranging a dorm room, a student does 334 J of work in moving a desk 2.1 m. What was the magnitude of the applied horizontal force? N

Question

While rearranging a dorm room, a student does 334 J of work in moving a desk 2.1 m. What was the magnitude of the applied horizontal force?  N

Hank L. · Accepted Answer

Here we are figuring out force, but we will use the work equation.

W = Fd

This force is being applied horizontally, so we don't need to worry about trigonometry here.

Let's rearrange the equation so that it is set up for us to solve for the variable we don't know.

F = W/d

F = 334 J / 2.1 m = 159.047619 N

We need to adjust our answer to take account of significant figures. Here, that will be two . . .

So the answer is 160 N.

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