A teapot sits on a table. Why doesn't it sink into the table?

1 Answer
shr
Oct 31, 2016

The forces acting on the teapot are balanced.

Explanation:

Going back to free-body diagrams, we know that when an object is at rest or not moving; all it's forces are balanced. So assuming that the cup has no vertical or horizontal motion, the cup's #|F_g| = |F_N|#, whereas the normal force of the table. Therefore the object will remain at rest; and not sink in to the table.

Note: The answer can be expressed using many different concepts and laws; I have chosen to use the simplest one.

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