when you move a chair across the floor what force must your push be stronger than

Your push must be stronger than friction between the chair and the floor.

Quick Scoop: What’s Going On?

When you try to slide a chair, the floor “pushes back” with a force called friction, which always acts opposite to the direction of motion. To get the chair moving, your applied force has to be greater than this frictional force; once you overcome it, the chair starts to slide.

• The opposing force here is friction, not gravity, magnetism, or tension.

• Friction comes from the contact between the chair’s legs (or wheels) and the floor surface.

• Rougher floors generally mean more friction, so you need a stronger push to move the same chair.

In typical multiple-choice homework questions with options like “friction, magnetic, normal, tension,” the correct answer is friction.

TL;DR:
When you move a chair across the floor, your push must be stronger than the force of friction resisting the motion.

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