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Calculate the change in length of the upper leg bone (the femur) when a 70.0 kg man supports 62.0 kg of his mass on it, assuming the bone to be equivalent to a uniform rod that is 45.0 cm long and 2.00 cm in radius.

Strategy

The force is equal to the weight supported:

and the cross-sectional area of the upper leg bone(femur) is:

To find the change in length we use the Young’s modulus formula. The Young’s modulus reference value for a bone under compression is known to be 9×10⁹ N/m². Now,all quantities except ΔL are known. Thus:

Discussion

This small change in length seems reasonable, consistent with our experience that bones are rigid. In fact, even the rather large forces encountered during strenuous physical activity do not compress or bend bones by large amounts. Although bone is rigid compared with fat or muscle, several of the substances listed in Table 5.3(see reference below) have larger values of Young’s modulus Y . In other words, they are more rigid.

Reference:
This worksheet is a modified version of Example 5.4 page 188 found in :
OpenStax College,College Physics. OpenStax College. 21 June 2012.
http://openstaxcollege.org/textbooks/college-physics
Creative Commons License : http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

(a) Calculate the buoyant force on 10,000 metric tons (1.00×10 7 kg) of solid steel completely submerged in water, and compare this with the steel’s weight.

(b) What is the maximum buoyant force that water could exert on this same steel if it were shaped into a boat that could displace 1.00×10 5 m ³ of water?

Strategy for (a)

To find the buoyant force, we must find the weight of water displaced. We can do this by using the densities of water and steel given in Table [insert table #] We note that, since the steel is completely submerged, its volume and the water’s volume are the same. Once we know the volume of water, we can find its mass and weight

First, we use the definition of density to find the steel’s volume, and then we substitute values for mass and density. This gives :

Because the steel is completely submerged, this is also the volume of water displaced, Vw. We can now find the mass of water displaced from the relationship between its volume and density, both of which are known. This gives:

By Archimedes’ principle, the weight of water displaced is m w g , so the buoyant force is:

The steel’s weight is 9.80×10 7 N , which is much greater than the buoyant force, so the steel will remain submerged.

Strategy for (b)

Here we are given the maximum volume of water the steel boat can displace. The buoyant force is the weight of this volume of water.

The mass of water displaced is found from its relationship to density and volume, both of which are known. That is:

The maximum buoyant force is the weight of this much water, or

Discussion

The maximum buoyant force is ten times the weight of the steel, meaning the ship can carry a load nine times its own weight without sinking.

Reference : OpenStax College,College Physics. OpenStax College. 21 June 2012.
http://openstaxcollege.org/textbooks/college-physics
Creative Commons License : http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/