In this article, we are going to discuss whether is support force a contact force or not and what are the various facts behind it.
The word itself explains that it is an additional force used to sustain the force that is imposed on the body. This supporting force helps the object to withstand the forces that are imposed on it balancing the object to the rest.
How is Support Force a Contact Force?
A force is said to be a contact force when it is imposed on the object by being in its contact without which the force is not imploding on the object.
A support force is definitely a contact force because without coming in contact with the object to which the support has to be given, this force can’t be imposed on the object.
Consider a vehicle park on the hill as shown in the below figure. The stones are kept infront of the tires to prevent the car from slipping down the hill.
As the weight of a car due to gravity is acting in a slightly backward direction of the car, and also the force due to air resistance is imposing on the car that may lead to the downward acceleration of the car from the hill top. That is why a support force is applied by placing a stone near the tires of the car to prevent the tires from accelerating.
A support force acting on the tire by the stone relates to Newton’s Third Law of Motion, which states,
“Every action has equal and opposite reaction”
If it doesn’t follow the law then a car will accelerate down the hill. This means that the support force on the tires has to be less or equal and opposite to the force acting on the car due to air drag. This force comes into action only when the stone is in contact with the tires of the car.
The force due to air resistance is normally very less exerting on the car. In case the speed of the wind rises due to some climatic conditions and is greater than the support force that the stone might exert on the car, then the car might accelerate down along with the stone.
Read more on Is Push A Contact Force: Why, How And Several Facts.
What is Essential for any Object to give a Support Force?
An object is able to provide a support force to the other object depending on the shape, size, and mass.
Not only the mass, but even the compressive strength, its rigidity, and the tension it can sustain help to provide greater supportive force to the object to resist the motion.
Image Credit: Pixabay
Just imagine a feather; it is so light and delicate that the air resistance can easily drag it from place to place and float in the air. Do you think that it is able to impose supportive force on any object? Why do you think that the feathers will not be a suitable thing to levy a supportive force?
Yes, indeed it is very light in mass, and the force due to gravity is also very finite. Plus, it doesn’t have resistivity to even resist the wind and is easily carried away by the breeze. Therefore, it is obvious that it will not provide any supportive force to any.
Read more on Is Magnetic Force A Contact Force: Why, How, When and Detailed Facts.
Examples of Support Force
Some examples of support forces are a strong foundation for buildings to support the force incident from the concrete of the building slab, stone placed at the tires of the car when parked on hills to resist the accidental downward motion of the car, latches of the window to support window panels to resist the wind speed, poles of the bridges, handles on the drawers, latches of a door, clothes hanging on rope support force comes from the poles to which the rope is tied, hanger on metallic rod, preventing a person from falling, etc.
Does Support Force Act as Resistive Force?
The force required by the object to maintain its position to the rest irrespective of different forces acting on it is called a support force.
Support force does act as a resistive force by resisting the forces acting on the object and helping the objects to withstand those forces.
The support force resists the movement of the object by exerting a force on the body that binds the object to the rest unless some higher force is imposed on the object against the support force and puts the object into acceleration.
Read more on Muscular Force a Contact Force: Why, How, When and Detailed Facts.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do the window latches impose support force on the windows?
If the window does have hooks or latches, then on the heavy blow of breeze, the windows might bang on grills and get damaged.
Hence, latches help to prevent this by providing a supportive force for the windows by resisting the force imposing on the windows due to heavy blow of breeze.
How does the support force is measured?
The support force is measured in terms of Newton and is equal to the force imposing on the object.
The support force imposed on the object is equal to the amount of force the supporting object is resisting that is being imposed on the object.
Also Read:
- Centrifugal force vs coriolis force
- Is momentum a force
- Is gravity an external force
- Coriolis force example
- Is gravity a conservative force
- Is electrostatic force conservative
- What can exert a force
- Electrostatic force and charge
- Is spring force a contact force
- Example of unbalanced force
Hi, I’m Akshita Mapari. I have done M.Sc. in Physics. I have worked on projects like Numerical modeling of winds and waves during cyclone, Physics of toys and mechanized thrill machines in amusement park based on Classical Mechanics. I have pursued a course on Arduino and have accomplished some mini projects on Arduino UNO. I always like to explore new zones in the field of science. I personally believe that learning is more enthusiastic when learnt with creativity. Apart from this, I like to read, travel, strumming on guitar, identifying rocks and strata, photography and playing chess.