Question

. In famous magician trick. The magician lies on bed of nails and a sledge hammer is used to pound on an anvil on her chest. The nails will not pierce her skin. Explain why?

Answer 1

the anvil absorbs all the force being applied by the hammer so the magician does not have a great force pushing them into the bed of nails

Answer 2

momentum of sledge hammer m v becomes momentum of
anvil, M v', giving a much smaller velocity of the anvil, and this produces a force that produces an average pressure, force/area, surprisingly small. The N nails than divide this force among them. Don't try this at home.