The leg bone (femur) breaks under a compressive force of about 6. 104 N for a hu

Question

The leg bone (femur) breaks under a compressive force of about 6. 104 N for a human and 1.0 105 N for a horse. The human femur has a compressive strength of 1.9 108 Pa, while the horse femur has a compressive strength of 1.4 108 Pa. What is the effective cross-sectional area of the femur in a human and in a horse? (Note: Since the center of the femur contains bone marrow, which has essentially no compressive strength, the effective cross-sectional area is about 80% of the total cross-sectional area.)

a). ?? cm2 (human)

b). ?? cm2 (horse)

Explanation / Answer

All effectiveness aside, you simply have to divide the force by the strength. Play with the units to verify that fact:
Newton = (kg m) / s

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