Physics of Banana Peeling: An Indepth Look
Well,
you see, F=MA, which is what's going on here.
You have two forces acting upon each member of the banana
peel, causing them to depart from their former positions. First,
there is the force of your hand acting in a negative "y"
direction. Those are the arrows pointing downward that I added to the
picture. There is, however, another force at
work. This is the force due to gravity (Fg=Mpg
where p indicates which peel is supplying the mass) which is always
acting on anything on the earth's surface. Because it also acts in the
negative "y" direction, the position shown is the most
effecient in conserving the energy you will use in accomplishing your
goal.
Remember that because each peel is a different mass, you will
need to apply a different minimum force to achieve peelage.
Don't get discouraged if the first peel is difficult to get started. It
has the greatest ammount of tensile strength to overcome
before it become ridiculously easy.
Finally, good luck.
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