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You are watching: How hard is it to push a car

The automobile is a 2002 Toyota Corolla SE I have actually in mine garage top top a rock surface, I.e., the floor itself.

What I want to understand is just how to determine the force needed to obtain it in motion at all.

The curb weight is 2,400 lbs. How could I identify the force needed to push it on neutral to obtain it in any kind of kind the motion?

$\begingroup$ The biggest variable is most likely all the internal friction in the automobile (without friction the would require no pressure at all), and also as such no answerable through us. $\endgroup$
DavidZaslavsky well, ns figured possibly there to be a chance there was straightforward non-engineering systems ::shrug:: legate stroke: any surfaces in contact and also moving loved one to one one more lose power to friction. All the relocating parts in the car contribute, and without this effect, you might push a vehicle with your tiny finger if you so chose. $\endgroup$
You may have come across the state static friction and dynamic friction. In brief, the force needed to get an object moving is normally less the the pressure needed to keep it moving. Cars present this phenomenon, despite for various reasons come the normal lab experiment of sliding block around. Auto bearings are designed to maintain a slim film of oil when they"re moving, however when the auto is stationary this movie collapses and the friction rises considerably. The point of this is the Maxim"s idea wouldn"t give you a great idea the the pressure needed to obtain the automobile going, though it would offer you the dynamic friction.

This is one means of act it:

Drive the auto onto a communication of size $d$, then relax the handbrake and also put it into neutral. Currently start jacking increase one end of the board, and measure the height $h$ at which the automobile just starts come roll. (You can want someone in the car to stop it! :-)

If the fixed of the car is $m$, climate the force propelling the auto forward is $F = mg\sin\theta$, where $\theta$ is the angle the board renders to the floor. The worth of $\sin\theta$ is offered by:

$$\sin\theta = \frach\sqrth^2 + d^2 \approx \frachd$$

where the approximation is good if $h \ll d$.

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So the pressure required to start the automobile moving is:

$$F = mg \left( \frach\sqrth^2 + d^2 \right)$$

By simply measuring the distances $h$ and $d$ you can calculate what pressure you"ll have to start the auto moving.