A person ( 40 kg ) manages to remain at rest between two vertical walls by pressing one wall A with his hands and feet and the other wall B with his back, as shown in the figure. The friction coefficient between his body and the walls is 0.8 , and limiting friction acts at all contact points. Let F_A and F_B represent the forces with which the person pushes wall A and wall B , respectively. Which of the following rel

Step-by-step solution

For the person to remain at rest, the net force acting on him in any direction must be zero. Considering the horizontal direction, the only forces acting on the person are the normal reactions from the vertical walls: 1. Normal reaction N_A from wall A acting towards the left. 2. Normal reaction N_B from wall B acting towards the right. For horizontal equilibrium, we must have: F_x = 0 N_B - N_A = 0 N_A = N_B By Newton's third law, the normal force the person exerts on wall A is F_A = N_A , and the normal force he