alleryStart learning →Which describes a ball resting on a flat horizontal floor?
ANeutral equilibrium
BStable equilibrium
CUnstable equilibrium
DNo equilibrium at all
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: A. Neutral equilibrium
1. The three cases are told apart by what happens after a displacement.
2. In stable equilibrium a restoring force appears, and in unstable it grows.
3. A system is in neutral equilibrium if its equilibrium is independent of displacements.
4. Moving a ball along a flat floor leaves it just as balanced as before.
5. That is neutral equilibrium.
_Source: OpenStax College Physics for AP Courses 2e (CC BY 4.0), Ch 9 'Statics and Torque', sections 9.1-9.5_
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