Consider a rectangle block of mass 400g has a length of 10cm, a width of 5cm and a breadth of 2cm. Calculate the pressure acting on each face.

Pressure is defined through the equation:

P

=

F

A

where

F

is the force in newtons, and

A

is the area in

m

2

.

So, we got the rectangular block with dimensions

30

cm

by

5

cm

by

10

cm

, or if we write this in meters, it is

0.3

m

by

0.05

m

by

0.1

m

.

Since the force is constant, we can let

F

=

k

, and we have

P

=

k

A

Therefore, pressure is inversely proportional to area, i.e. bigger area equals less pressure, smaller area equals bigger pressure.

So, we would want to apply the force on the face of the block with the smallest dimensions if we want to find the largest pressure, i.e. that is