Why it gets easier to push open a door, the further you are from the hinge?

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Why it gets easier to push open a door, the further you are from the hinge?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

It’s not easier. You’re just doing the same amount of work over a larger distance. If you’re pushing at the hinge your push length may only be a few inches so in order to move the whole door you need to apply a lot more force to get the same amount of work. If you’re on the outside edge of the door you’re pushing the door a number of feet and thus can apply less force for that amount of work.

Work = Force x Displacement in the direction of the force applied.

It’s the same amount of work in either case but if the displacement goes down the force has to go up.

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