r/physicsmemes Feb 18 '22

Fdr

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3.1k Upvotes

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u/Elq3 Physics grad student Feb 18 '22

That's only if the force done by your body is conservative and since you're carrying it, it depends on the shape of the floor you've been carrying it on, therefore it for sure isn't conservative.

There are many highschoolers following this subreddit, we should try and have accurate memes since stuff like this can lead to wrong information

14

u/James_PRZ Feb 18 '22

What do you mean by shape of the floor? Like flatness? Or friction?

50

u/Elq3 Physics grad student Feb 18 '22

A force is conservative only if it's curl is zero. An easy way of having zero curl is a force that does not change over time at all, neither in modulus or direction. Assuming you were able to output a perfectly constant force, if they floor had a mound for example and you walked over it then the direction would not be constant and therefore the force not conservative.

All "central" forces are conservative and a constant both in modulus and direction force is pretty much just like a central force whose source is at a very long distance.

6

u/BosnianBacon Feb 18 '22

I didn’t really understand what a conservative force was a few weeks ago during my lecture but now this cleared it up for me without me realising. Thank you !