Contact force and field forces

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Lunasly

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Imagine a stove is on the ground. When asked what forces are present, I would say that there is the weight of the object (mg) pointing down and an equal and opposite force (normal force). I was looking at a diagram for a question and I saw another force that also pointed down in the same direction as (mg); that is, I saw one arrow pointing up from the stove (which I assume is the normal force) and two arrows pointing down from the stove. One of the arrows pointing down was drawn from the centre of the stove (thus I assume that the weight = mg) and the other arrow pointing down was drawn starting at the point the stove makes contact with the earth.

Is this contact force, in addition to the weight of the object, supposed to balance out the normal force that the earth is exerting on the stove?

Thanks,
Lunasly.

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The one at point of contact is most likely the normal exerted on the ground by the stove. It's always there although most of the time you don't need it since it's not acting on the stove but on whatever supports it.

It will have the same magnitude and opposite direction from the normal that earth exerts on the stove. I would not say it balances it, since it's acting on a different body.
 
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