• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 01:15
CEST 07:15
KST 14:15
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
ByuL, and the Limitations of Standard Play3Team Liquid Map Contest #22: Results and Winners7Code S Season 2 (2026): RO4 and Finals Preview12TL.net Map Contest #22 - Voting & Ladder Map Selection7Code S Season 2 (2026) - RO8 Preview8
Community News
MC vs IdrA, Boxer vs Nal_rA to be Legacy Matches @ BlizzCon215.0.16 Hotfix (June 30) - Balance + Bug Fixes28Weekly Cups (June 22-28): Zergs thrive in new patch2[TLMC] Summer 2026 Ladder Map Rotation05.0.16 patch for SC2 goes live (8 worker start)99
StarCraft 2
General
MC vs IdrA, Boxer vs Nal_rA to be Legacy Matches @ BlizzCon 5.0.16 Hotfix (June 30) - Balance + Bug Fixes 5.0.16 patch for SC2 goes live (8 worker start) Is the larve respawn broken? ByuL, and the Limitations of Standard Play
Tourneys
Crank Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League RSL Revival: Season 6 - Qualifiers and Main Event Douyu Cup 2026: $20,000 Legends Event (June 26-28) Maestros of The Game 2 announcement and schedule ! INu's Battles#17 <BO.9>
Strategy
[G] Having the right mentality to improve
Custom Maps
New Map Maker - Looking for Advice - Love or Hate Work In Progress Melee Maps [D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 532 Nuclear Family Mutation # 531 Experimental Artillery Mutation # 530 One For All
Brood War
General
Starcraft vs Retro Category on Twitch Best thing happen to StarCraft since Remastered? BW General Discussion ASL 22 Proposed Map Pool ProGamer Paychecks Story
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues [ASL21] Grand Finals The Casual Games of the Week Thread [BSL22] GosuLeague Casts - Tue & Thu 22:00 CEST
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Creating a full chart of Zerg builds Relatively freeroll strategies Why doesn't anyone use restoration?
Other Games
General Games
ZeroSpace at Steam NextFest - Last free demo Dawn of War IV Nintendo Switch Thread Path of Exile Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread
Dota 2
Looking for a Dota Mentor Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug
TL Mafia
[94721]Better Good-Health Signs Than 3-15 Bans/Yea TL Mafia Community Thread Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
Russo-Ukrainian War Thread US Politics Mega-thread Men's Fashion Thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread The Games Industry And ATVI
Fan Clubs
The HerO Fan Club! The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! Series you have seen recently... [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books [TV/BOOK] *SPOILERS* Game of Thrones Discussion
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 Formula 1 Discussion McBoner: A hockey love story Cricket [SPORT]
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
How to clean a TTe Thermaltake keyboard? Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Listen To The Coaches!
TrAiDoS
An Exploration of th…
waywardstrategy
I'm an arrogant trash talke…
FlaShFTW
Gauntlet SC2: A Retrospectiv…
Ctone23
ramps on octagon
StaticNine
Funny Nicknames
LUCKY_NOOB
Evil Gacha Games and the…
ffswowsucks
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 8475 users

Physics Help

Blogs > GrayArea
Post a Reply
GrayArea
Profile Blog Joined December 2007
United States872 Posts
July 20 2008 04:17 GMT
#1
To any physics people out there:

1) The sole of a certain tennis shoe has a shear modulus of 4x10^7. If the height of the sole is doubled, the strain will:

A. decrease by a factor of two
B. remain the same
C. increase by a factor of two
D. increase by a factor of four

2) A brick w/ a density of 1.4x10^3 kg/m^3 is placed on top of a piece of styrofoam floating on water. If one half the volume of the styrofoam sinks below the water, what is the ratio of the volume of the styrofoam compared to the volume of the brick? (Assume the styrofoam is massless)

A. 0.7
B. 1.4
C. 2.8
D. 5.6

I know the answers to both of the questions, I just understand the reasoning on how to obtain the answers. If someone can explain why the answer is what it is, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

Answers: 1. B 2. C

*
Kang Min Fighting!
SayaSP
Profile Blog Joined February 2007
Laos5494 Posts
July 20 2008 04:39 GMT
#2
Micronesia (If he didn't go to sleep yet) to the rescue!
[iHs]SSP | I-NO-KI BOM-BA-YE | のヮの http://tinyurl.com/MLIStheCV , MLIS.
HeavOnEarth
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
United States7087 Posts
July 20 2008 04:47 GMT
#3
T_T
i fail once again at physics @ TL.net
"come korea next time... FXO house... 10 korean, 10 korean"
Pervect
Profile Joined June 2007
1280 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-07-20 04:56:37
July 20 2008 04:53 GMT
#4
Looking at number one, it's mainly just trying to scare you with shear modulus.

The equation for shear modulus is, SM = stress (F / A) / strain (delta H / totalH) -- SM is a constant as is stress (same person in the shoes, only changing the height of sole). Obviously, then, strain is going to be constant. So it'll remain the same.
micronesia
Profile Blog Joined July 2006
United States24779 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-07-20 05:09:28
July 20 2008 05:03 GMT
#5
I solved 2. Let me edit with my explanation.

Edit:
2) A brick w/ a density of 1.4x10^3 kg/m^3 is placed on top of a piece of styrofoam floating on water. If one half the volume of the styrofoam sinks below the water, what is the ratio of the volume of the styrofoam compared to the volume of the brick? (Assume the styrofoam is massless)


The rule with floating objects is that the weight of the object floating in the water is equal to the weight of the water it displaces (if it needs to displace water greater than its volume equivalent in order for that to be true, it will just sink). The weight of the brick is going to be equal to the weight of water that occupies half the volume of the Styrofoam (the problem says half the Styrofoam is submerged).

Density of brick = 1.4x10^3 kg/m^3
Density of water = 1x10^3 kg/m^3
Volume of Brick = Vb
Volume of Styrofoam = Vs
Volume of water displaced = Vs/2

1) Weight of brick = Weight of Water Displaced

2) Weight of water displaced = density_water * Vs/2
3) Weight of brick = density_brick * Vb

Set 2 and 3 equal, as per 1:

d_w * Vs/2 = d_b * Vb

Vs/Vb = 2*d_w/d_b = 2.8
ModeratorThere are animal crackers for people and there are people crackers for animals.
SayaSP
Profile Blog Joined February 2007
Laos5494 Posts
July 20 2008 05:10 GMT
#6
(01:10:24) (+micronesia) SayaSP thanks for electing me to do physics lol

Well, you ARE a freakin' physics teacher.
[iHs]SSP | I-NO-KI BOM-BA-YE | のヮの http://tinyurl.com/MLIStheCV , MLIS.
micronesia
Profile Blog Joined July 2006
United States24779 Posts
July 20 2008 05:13 GMT
#7
On July 20 2008 14:10 SayaSP wrote:
(01:10:24) (+micronesia) SayaSP thanks for electing me to do physics lol

Well, you ARE a freakin' physics teacher.

Where's my money then.
ModeratorThere are animal crackers for people and there are people crackers for animals.
Klive5ive
Profile Blog Joined January 2008
United Kingdom6056 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-07-20 05:18:28
July 20 2008 05:17 GMT
#8
On July 20 2008 13:17 GrayArea wrote:
To any physics people out there:

1) The sole of a certain tennis shoe has a shear modulus of 4x10^7. If the height of the sole is doubled, the strain will:

A. decrease by a factor of two
B. remain the same
C. increase by a factor of two
D. increase by a factor of four

2) A brick w/ a density of 1.4x10^3 kg/m^3 is placed on top of a piece of styrofoam floating on water. If one half the volume of the styrofoam sinks below the water, what is the ratio of the volume of the styrofoam compared to the volume of the brick? (Assume the styrofoam is massless)

A. 0.7
B. 1.4
C. 2.8
D. 5.6

I know the answers to both of the questions, I just understand the reasoning on how to obtain the answers. If someone can explain why the answer is what it is, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

Answers: 1. B 2. C


Well number 1) is just about understanding the meaning of a shear modulus. I remember shear modulus as the "friction resistance" of a material. It's essentially how strong it resists a plane moving against it, whilst it's being pushed against that plane. The thickness of the sole is clearly not going to affect this strength.

Number 2) hmm this is a bit tricky.
Always remember Archimedes principle whenever you have things in water.
The "upthrust" force is equal to the weight of the water displaced.
Water conveniently has a density of 1kg/L, which helps the calculations a lot.

So let the volume of the brick be B and the volume of the Styrofoam be F.
1.4* B = 0.5(since it's half the foam)* F * 1(the density of the water displaced)
1.4 * B = 0.5 * F
F = 2.8B as stated.

Edit: Shit, by the time i'd typed it out people beat me too it :p
Don't hate the player - Hate the game
evanthebouncy!
Profile Blog Joined June 2006
United States12796 Posts
July 20 2008 05:46 GMT
#9
1 I have no clue, probably some formula u can use...

2 I'll have a go. The only thing I knew is
dispaced water mass = mass lifted.

so with that in mind...

2) A brick w/ a density of D is placed on top of a piece of styrofoam floating on water. If one half the volume of the styrofoam sinks below the water, what is the ratio of the volume of the styrofoam compared to the volume of the brick? (Assume the styrofoam is massless)

Let's imagine brick w/ density D
Let's imagine water w/ density K
Let's imagine brick w/ volume V
Let's imagine foam w/ volume W

Brick mass = Dispaced Water mass

what it means?
Brick with density D, volume of V
Dispaced water with density K, volume of 1/2W

D*V = K*W/2

What do you want? Ratio of Brick vs Foam on volume, so V/W
so rearrange...
V/W = K/2/D
Life is run, it is dance, it is fast, passionate and BAM!, you dance and sing and booze while you can for now is the time and time is mine. Smile and laugh when still can for now is the time and soon you die!
evanthebouncy!
Profile Blog Joined June 2006
United States12796 Posts
July 20 2008 05:51 GMT
#10
Oh yeah what physics is this? Go to Office hours often if it's university
:D
Life is run, it is dance, it is fast, passionate and BAM!, you dance and sing and booze while you can for now is the time and time is mine. Smile and laugh when still can for now is the time and soon you die!
micronesia
Profile Blog Joined July 2006
United States24779 Posts
July 20 2008 18:58 GMT
#11
No response from the OP?

D:
ModeratorThere are animal crackers for people and there are people crackers for animals.
GrayArea
Profile Blog Joined December 2007
United States872 Posts
July 20 2008 19:54 GMT
#12
Sorry about the lack of response, I typed it out then signed off and went to sleep. Thanks so much for the responses you guys. The problems are from an MCAT physics study book, and it has explanations in the back except that some explanations are written kind of poorly such that I am not able to understand the reasoning behind it.

I was just unsure about the first one because I was trying to apply an equation to it. Pervect made a good response, thanks pervect. What I don't understand though is if the height of the sole is doubled, won't it affect the area? As in: S.M. = stress / strain = (F/A) / (delta h/h). So by increasing the height of the sole, the A will increase which will reduce the stress factor. Which will ultimately reduce the S.M.? But the S.M. is a constant so I am just getting confused on how the changing of the height is affecting either the stress or the strain.

The second question was explained very well by micronesia, thanks micronesia. That really makes sense when you apply all the formulas and show step by step how to arrive at the answer. The answer explanation just wrote some response that sounded kind of esoteric to a physics learning student. Thanks also to everyone else who replied, I really appreciate it.
Kang Min Fighting!
micronesia
Profile Blog Joined July 2006
United States24779 Posts
July 20 2008 19:58 GMT
#13
Excellent. Just be careful when reading over an explanation like the one I provided. What used to happen to me occasionally was, someone would explain something to me, it would seem clear as day, I'd be confident, but then I wouldn't be able to do it on the test XD. You might want to try the same, or a similar problem again later without looking at this, just to see if you really have it yet. Good luck with your MCAT.
ModeratorThere are animal crackers for people and there are people crackers for animals.
GrayArea
Profile Blog Joined December 2007
United States872 Posts
July 20 2008 20:03 GMT
#14
Ya, I still have till next spring until I take the exam, I am just trying to study as much as I can before then. I will be practicing a lot and doing a lot of problems to get this stuff down, especially because physics is my weaker of subjects. Hopefully by test time, I will be doing these problems in my sleep.
Kang Min Fighting!
skyglow1
Profile Blog Joined April 2005
New Zealand3962 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-07-21 01:16:08
July 21 2008 01:05 GMT
#15
I was just unsure about the first one because I was trying to apply an equation to it. Pervect made a good response, thanks pervect. What I don't understand though is if the height of the sole is doubled, won't it affect the area? As in: S.M. = stress / strain = (F/A) / (delta h/h). So by increasing the height of the sole, the A will increase which will reduce the stress factor. Which will ultimately reduce the S.M.? But the S.M. is a constant so I am just getting confused on how the changing of the height is affecting either the stress or the strain.


No, have a look at the picture on this page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shear_modulus

The area is the area of the object tangential to the direction of the force. The height of the object is independent of the area. The height and area sort of specify the characteristics of the object, while F and deltah tells you the object's response to a shearing force.
GrayArea
Profile Blog Joined December 2007
United States872 Posts
July 21 2008 01:12 GMT
#16
On July 21 2008 10:05 skyglow1 wrote:
Show nested quote +
I was just unsure about the first one because I was trying to apply an equation to it. Pervect made a good response, thanks pervect. What I don't understand though is if the height of the sole is doubled, won't it affect the area? As in: S.M. = stress / strain = (F/A) / (delta h/h). So by increasing the height of the sole, the A will increase which will reduce the stress factor. Which will ultimately reduce the S.M.? But the S.M. is a constant so I am just getting confused on how the changing of the height is affecting either the stress or the strain.


No, have a look at the picture on this page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shear_modulus

The area is the area of the object tangential to the direction of the force. The height of the object is independent of the area.


Ohhhhhhhhhhh, thanks!! that makes it so much more clear! You always make nice posts in my blog, its like you know exactly what I am thinking in all my posts, especially that one o-chem post where I got an A-. I just want to say I appreciate your omnipotence, thanks man.
Kang Min Fighting!
skyglow1
Profile Blog Joined April 2005
New Zealand3962 Posts
July 21 2008 01:15 GMT
#17
Whoopsie I was editing some more stuff when you replied but I guess you don't need it lol.

No problem :D
Caller
Profile Blog Joined September 2007
Poland8075 Posts
July 21 2008 02:21 GMT
#18
micro when i have mcats im going to need you to do my fizzix also
Watch me fail at Paradox: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=397564
micronesia
Profile Blog Joined July 2006
United States24779 Posts
July 21 2008 02:24 GMT
#19
On July 21 2008 11:21 Caller wrote:
micro when i have mcats im going to need you to do my fizzix also

Not after the way you brutally 2v1 rushed me today while my partner took four hours getting his army to my base.
ModeratorThere are animal crackers for people and there are people crackers for animals.
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Replay Cast
00:00
SEL Masters #7 - Day 1
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
WinterStarcraft847
Nina 158
StarCraft: Brood War
Rain 3951
GuemChi 3107
Shuttle 399
Free 136
Mind 91
HiyA 39
ZergMaN 29
Noble 27
yabsab 27
Bale 24
[ Show more ]
Icarus 8
Purpose 8
Dota 2
NeuroSwarm143
League of Legends
Doublelift3872
Super Smash Bros
hungrybox890
Other Games
summit1g7506
C9.Mang0537
PiGStarcraft272
ViBE178
RuFF_SC262
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick983
BasetradeTV287
Dota 2
PGL Dota 2 - Main Stream167
StarCraft: Brood War
lovetv 32
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 16 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Hupsaiya 113
• mYiSmile111
• intothetv
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• Azhi_Dahaki10
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• Rush1155
• Lourlo1087
• Stunt711
Upcoming Events
CrankTV Team League
5h 46m
Bombastic Starleague
14h 46m
The PondCast
1d 4h
HomeStory Cup
1d 5h
Replay Cast
1d 18h
HomeStory Cup
2 days
Replay Cast
2 days
HomeStory Cup
3 days
OSC
3 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
4 days
[ Show More ]
WardiTV Weekly
5 days
The PondCast
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

YSL S3
Douyu Cup 2026
Murky Cup 2026

Ongoing

IPSL Spring 2026
Acropolis #4
CSL Season 21: Qualifier 2
SCTL 2026 Spring
XSE Pro League 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
IEM Rio 2026

Upcoming

Escore Tournament S3: W1
CSL 2026 Summer (S21)
Escore Tournament S3: W2
ASL Season 22:Wild Card Qualifier
CSLAN 4
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
RSL Revival: Season 6
CranK Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League
HSC XXIX
Light Tournament 2026
Eternal Conflict S2 Finale
Heroes Pulsing #3
Eternal Conflict S2 E1
FISSURE Playground #5
BLAST Open Fall 2026
Esports World Cup 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual
Stake Ranked Episode 3
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.