About Me
Member since: July 27, 2006
Total points: 6 (Level 1)
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Total answers: 49
Best answers: 5 (10% of Total) When you want to tear a paper towel from a roll, you make a shark jerk rather than a slow pull. Explain.?
Can someone explain this in terms of inertia... finally, i think i'm starting to get what inertia is but how does this relate to it?
mUchos graCias!
2006-11-06 09:43:38 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
LoL.. ignore the ABOUT ME stuff ;) .. i copy and pasted thats y its like that
2006-11-06 09:44:08 · update #1
A body in motion tends to stay in motion, a body at rest tends to stay at rest. When you grab the first leaf of paper, it is now in motion. The rest of the paper towels are at rest. Now you yank on it. The sheet that is moving wants to keep moving. The roll that is at rest wants to stay at rest. SOMETHING has to give, and since the perferations are the weakest point, it rips there.
2006-11-06 09:49:36 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
What's at work here is the amount of force applied to the roll to get it to tear versus spin. The higher the acceleration, the greater the force. Also, typically we jerk with the roll at rest, which means the resistance to motion is governed by the static coefficients of friction for the sliding surfaces, versus the lower kinetic coefficients.
The greater force of the jerk working against the mass of the roll and the friction of the holder tears the sheet, versus a lower force that overcomes the friction and accelerates the mass of the roll so it spins on the holder without tearing.
j
2006-11-06 17:54:20 · answer #2 · answered by odu83 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
inertia is the answer.
remember that: "a body at rest will remain at rest unless disturbed by an unbalanced force"
when you make a shark jerk to the paper towel, the force is applied to the piece of paper, which tears from the roll... and it doesn't reach the roll, because it is at rest and have inertia.
(inertia is giving beacuse of its own mass, and therefore its own weight)
i hope you could understand my english
cheers
2006-11-06 23:09:00 · answer #3 · answered by Sísifo 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The paper towel is "tightly" connected or perforated to the next towel. To remove one, you have to apply a downward force. This force continues along the perforation as you continue to pull. Sound familiar to inertia?
Hope this helped. If not then...
2006-11-06 17:47:35 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋