A fastener is a system of 2 objects - a bolt and a nut. You come across such a bolt/nut system tightened all the way, so that the nut and the top of the bolt are pressing against each other with a force of 5 N. If the nut is held fixed, how much torque in mJ does one need to put on the bolt to begin to unscrew it?
Details and assumptions
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The bolt/nut system is no different than an inclined plane - it's just an inclined plane wrapped around a cylinder. Since you need to rotate the nut N times in order to move the distance d, the outer edge of the bolt needs to spin in the nut a total distance of 2 π N R . This is the same with an inclined plane of inclined angle x = arcsin d / 2 π N R that “wraps” around the bolt’s axis. The force between the bolt hat and the nut is equal to F, which means there’s a force parallel with the bolt axis that pushes the bolt into the nut.
The normal force acting on the inclined plane is N = F c o s ( x ) and the maximum friction force plus the component of F along the inclined plane is F r = k N − F s i n ( x ) = F ( k c o s ( x ) − s i n ( x ) ) , so in order to unfasten the bolt/nut system, you need to overcome the force F r . When you put a torque M on the nut, it is equivalent in the inclined plane picture to an extra force Q = M / R in the horizontal direction. The total force you need to overcome is F r + k M s i n ( x ) / R = F ( k c o s ( x ) − s i n ( x ) ) + k M s i n ( x ) / R along the plane:
F ( k c o s ( x ) − s i n ( x ) ) + k M s i n ( x ) / R ≤ M c o s ( x ) / R
⇒ M m i n = F R ( k c o s ( x ) − s i n ( x ) ) / ( c o s ( x ) − k s i n ( x ) )
Plug in the numerical values and you get the answer!