Question

1.) A box is lying on a hand truck that is lying flat. Lying flat, the hand truck is 4 feet long, measured from the wheels to the top of the frame. The box spans a length of two feet lying on the hand truck, measured from the bottom of the handtruck's frame to exactly its middle. The box weighs 85 pounds and a person is looking to move the hand truck with the box on it. The person can't exert more than 50 pounds of force while standing the hand truck upright, otherwise they will hurt their back.

a.) Can the person stand the hand truck safely without hurting their back? Explain why or why not.

Answer 1

A box is lying on a hand truck that is lying flat.

Length of the hand truck which measured from the wheels to top of the frame, L_truck = 4 ft

Length of the box lying on hand truck which measured from the bottom of handtruck's frame, L_box = 2 ft

weight of the box, w_box = 85 pounds

(a) Yes, the person can stand the hand truck safely without hurting their back.

Explanation : If a person don't exert force more than 50 pounds, then hand truck can safely stand without hurting their back. Basically, hand truck is an L-shaped box moving handcart with handles at one end & wheels at the base with a small ledge to set objects on flat against the floor when the hand-truck is upright.

Some hand trucks are equipped with stairclimber wheels which are designed to go up and down stairs. They are fabricated from many different types of material which including steel tube, aluminum tube, aluminum extrusion and high impact plastics.

Sometimes, they are used as baggage carts by porters in train stations and skycap at airports.