Why does an iron nail have a pointed end?

• Pressure is defined as the force exerted per unit area.
• Pressure = $\frac{\mathrm{Force}}{\mathrm{Area}}$
• We can see that pressure is inversely proportional to the area which means the smaller the area, the larger the pressure.
• A nail has a pointed end so that the surface area is less, when the surface area is less the pressure increases which makes it easy for the nail to be driven into the wall or where ever it may be inserted.

Therefore, we can say that an iron nail has a pointed end because the force acting on a smaller area exerts a larger pressure.