How can a one-ton car drive over a person’s foot and not cause any significant damages?
In: Physics
1 ton, 4 tires = 250 lbs if the weight is distributed evenly. Can a 250 lb person stand on your foot?
But the weight is not distributed evenly: tires are relatively soft and stretchy, so you don’t get all that weight at one point, and the shocks and struts on your car mean that most of the weight actually transfers to the other tire.
You also have extra force from the torque of the spinning tire that’s not to do with the weight of the car, but the direction of that force through your foot is at an angle, so it’s not adding that much extra stress to any given point in your foot.
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