Pressure of a High-Heeled Shoe

mass (kg)

65

heel size (mm)

0

color

This Demonstration calculates the pressure

P

(force per unit area) of a high-heeled shoe. The pressure can be very high and therefore can damage floors, because the area of the heel in contact with the floor is very small. The force—in this example, the weight

W

of a woman—is assumed to be concentrated only on the square heel; the heel size is the length of a side of a square.