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Grade upto college level Mechanics

How might a person sitting at rest on a frictionless horizontal surface get altogether off it?

Profile image of Amit Saxena
11 Years agoGrade upto college level
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1 Answer

Profile image of Navjyot Kalra
11 Years ago
When the person pushes against the horizontal force, a reaction force is generated from the ground and acts on the center of mass of person and accelerates it. By definition, the acceleration of center of mass is equal to the acceleration of each and every atom in the person and therefore the acceleration in center of mass will move the person altogether off from the surface.