Is 20.4 MPa enough pressure exterted from shoes to damage a wooden floor?

Question

Is 20.4 MPa enough pressure exterted from shoes to damage a wooden floor?

Answer 1

It is quite likely, depending on the particular wood.

2040N per square cm , a mass of 208kg/cm^2 or about 200atm  is  a considerable pressure.

While the the sort of person who would wear shoes with that small of (heel) area probably doesn't mass much more than 60kg, the difference allows something for impact load. But really, someone wearing heels with a 1cm^2 or smaller area should be walking on their toes, heels that small tend to also be quite tall and it looks awkward and actually unattractive to walk on the heels. The ladies probably don't care all that much about your floor, but they will care about how they look, the trick is to get them to remember to walk on their toes (and not get yourself killed in the process). While they may put weight on the heel when resting, the impact will be low then.

I have seen heels that seemed to be not more that 1/3cm^2, (about 18MPa with a static 60kgf load) but you'd be more likely to see that kind of shoe on a "working girl" which presents another set of problems. (or perhaps an opportunity to get them to stop wrecking your floors if they are not "working girls", but suggesting  they look like ho's may get you in serious trouble, so be careful)

Answer 2

I can't judge pressures, but I'm pretty sure that's enough to cause an earthquake!

:)

me07.