How can you pull a tablecloth off a completely set table? Describe what happens and why.?

Question

Think of the trick of pulling a tablecloth off a completely set table. Based upon what you know about force, describe what happens and why.

Answer 1

if a tablecloth is deftly and quickly pulled, and the puller has experience in doing so, the table will remain set, and hardly a thing will even move, because of newtons law, which says that a mass at rest has a tendency to remain at rest...(inertia) if the cloth is pulled properly, the force on the cloth will be perpendicular to the gravitational pull, and if the coefficient of friction is low enough, then it will slide out from under the place setting, as long as it dosent exert enough force to overcome the inertia of the place settings

Answer 2

Essentially, the table cloth is made of a material with a low coefficient of friction.
The items on the table usually have good inertia and when the cloth is jerked, the impulse of the low friction cloth does not sufficiently overcome the static momentum of the items on the table to drag them off the table.
Note that impulse is the key. You can not slowly drag the cloth out from beneath the items. It has to be done quickly.

Answer 3

The observed phenomenon is not due to magic. It is due to the friction between the tablecloth and everything that's on the table.

Friction is the force that opposes the relative motion or tendency of such motion of two surfaces in contact. It is also the contact of two objects creating static electricity. It is not, however, a fundamental force, as it originates from the electromagnetic forces and exchange force between atoms. In situations where the surfaces in contact are moving relative to each other, the friction between the two objects converts kinetic energy into sensitive energy, or heat (atomic vibrations). Friction between solid objects and fluids (gases or liquids) is called fluid friction. See also aerodynamics and hydrodynamics.

There are two types of riction static and kinetic.

Static friction occurs when the two objects are not moving relative to each other (like a book on a desk). The coefficient of static friction is typically denoted as μs. The initial force to get an object moving is often dominated by static friction. The static friction is in most cases higher than the kinetic friction. Rolling friction occurs when one object "rolls" on another (like a car's wheels on the ground). This is classified under static friction because the patch of the tire in contact with the ground, at any point while the tire spins, is stationary relative to the ground. The coefficient of rolling friction is typically denoted as μr.

Kinetic (or dynamic) friction occurs when two objects are moving relative to each other and rub together (like a sled on the ground). The coefficient of kinetic friction is typically denoted as μk, and is usually less than the coefficient of static friction. From the mathematical point of view, however, the difference between static and kinetic friction is of minor importance: Let us have a coefficient of friction which depends on the sliding velocity and is such that its value at 0 (the static friction μs ) is the limit of the kinetic friction μk for the velocity tending to zero. Then a solution of the contact problem with such Coulomb friction solves also the problem with the original μk and any static friction greater than that limit.

Sliding friction is when two objects are rubbing against each other. Putting a book flat on a desk and moving it around is an example of sliding friction.

Answer 4

This would depend on the weight of all the things you put on the table. If there is too much weight, you won't be able pull it off. If there is just right or too little, the objects would fall or , if enough force, the object would break.

Answer 5

all you hav to do is use a greater force than the objects static and sliding friction this happens because of inertia(an objects tendency to resist a change in motion) you apply force to the clothe and the inertia of the objects is keeping them from moving this happens because of newtons 1st law of motion"if an object is at rest or on motion it will remain unless an unbalanced force acts upon it"