A normal force is a contact force perpendicular to the constraining surface. It supplies support without being identical to gravitational weight: its magnitude depends on the other forces and the body's acceleration. For a body at rest on a horizontal scale with no other vertical forces, it equals . A freely falling body has no supporting normal force, despite its nonzero gravitational weight; this distinction defines the scale's apparent weight.
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The normal force is a contact force that acts perpendicular to the surface of an object in contact with another object. It arises in response to the weight of an object resting on a surface and serves to support that object's weight, preventing it from accelerating through the surface. In a typical scenario, such as a book resting on a table, the gravitational force pulls the book downward, while the table exerts an upward normal force equal in magnitude to the weight of the book.