A student has six textbooks, each with a thickness of 3.6 cm and a weight of 38 N. What is the minimum work the student would have to do to place all the books in a single vertical stack, starting with all the books on the surface of the table?

Answer 1

Just remember that the formula for Work is Force times Distance. You have the force which is 38 N. And N is Newtons if you didn't know what that was. And remember distance is always given in metres, so you have to convert cm to metres. There are 0.01 meters in a centimeter so you times 0.01 with 3.6 and you get 0.036 meters, and this is your distance. Then you times 38 by 0.036 to get your answer.

W = Fd
W = (38)(0.036)
W =

^ Can you do that?

Answer 2

Oh one thing you might be getting confused on is where it says --> weight of 38N. Weight and force are the same thing, so just watch out for that, it's something I got confused with too earlier.