Force on Ironclad Beetle

Force on Ironclad Beetle#

The 2 \(cm\) long diabolical ironclad beetle is reported to survive forces as high as 149 \(N\), roughly 39000 times its body weight (here’s the reference if you don’t believe us)! In commenting on this work, Elizabeth Pennisi notes that this force is about four times larger than the strongest humans exert when squeezing the beetle between the thumb and forefinger.

Part 1#

If your thumb exerts a force of 132 \(N\) on a diabolical ironclad beetle,

Answer Section#

  • the beetle will exert a force of 9.5 x 10\(^{-4}\) \(N\) on your thumb.

  • the beetle will exert a force of 3.8 x 10\(^{-3}\) \(N\) on your thumb.

  • the beetle will be crushed between your thumb and forefinger.

  • the beetle will exert a force of 149 \(N\) back on your thumb.

  • The beetle will exert a force of 132 \(N\) back on your thumb.

Attribution#

Problem is licensed under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.
The Creative Commons 4.0 license requiring attribution-BY, non-commercial-NC, and share-alike-SA license.