A student is investigating the relationship between pressure, force, and area. 

Describe how a student could find the area of the shaded surface in the diagram.

The student measures the mass of the cuboid to be 450 g. The gravitational field strength on Earth is 9.8 N/kg.

Calculate the force exerted on the table when placed on the table shaded face down.

The student calculates the surface area of the shaded face to be 7.5 x 10^-3 m². 

Calculate the pressure exerted on the table by the block. 

Describe how the pressure exerted on the table would change when the block is placed with the smaller face on the desk. 

Adventurers wear snow shoes to prevent them sinking into the snow. 

The adventurer has a mass of 75 kg and is carrying a bag of equipment of mass 20 kg. The gravitational field strength on Earth is 9.8 N/kg.

Calculate the total weight of the adventurer and their bag of equipment.

The surface area of a snow shoe is 0.09 m². 

Calculate the pressure of the adventurer on the ground when standing on both feet.

The adventurer will sink through the snow if the pressure exerted exceeds 8,500 Pa.

Calculate the pressure exerted on the snow when the adventurer lifts one foot and hence determine if they will sink into the snow.

Hammers are used to drive nails into wood to join two pieces together.

Nails have a point on the end to make it easier to hammer into the wood.

Explain why the pointed tip of a nail makes it easier to hammer into a piece of wood.

As the hammer strikes the nail, the nail exerts a force on the wood.

The wood also exerts a force on the nail. 

Explain why.

The hammer strikes the nail and exerts a 200 N on the nail. The nail has a surface area of 1 x 10^-6 m² in contact with the hammer. 

Calculate the pressure exerted by the hammer.

5 sugar cubes are resting on a desk stacked on top of each other. 

The mass of each sugar cube is 4 g. 

Calculate the force exerted by the 5 sugar cubes on the desk. The gravitational field strength on Earth is 9.8 N/kg.

The side of the cube is 1.5 cm.

Calculate the surface area in m² of one face of the sugar cube.

Calculate the pressure exerted by the sugar cubes on the desk. 

Give your answer to 3 significant figures.

The student claims that the pressure exerted on the desk would be greater in granulated form because more of it would be in contact with the desk. 

Explain why the student is wrong.