Question

A woman takes her dog Rover for a walk on a leash. She pulls on the leash with a force of 30.0 N at an angle of 29° above the horizontal sidewalk. What force is tending to pull Rover forward, parallel to the horizontal?

Answer 1

The force parallel to the horizontal is 26.24 N

Step-by-step explanation:

She pulls on the leash with a force F = 30 N, this force, since its at an angle of 29° (i will cal this angle
`\theta`), it has a force component on x (the horizontal, i will call this force
`F_(x)`) and a force component on y (the vertical, i will call this
`F_(y)` ).

This can be seen in the attached picture.

Since we are asked about the force parallel to the horizontal, we need to find the component of the force
`F_(x)`, since
`F_(x)` is the adjacent angle, we need to use cosine:

`F_(x)=Fcos \theta`

since
`F=30N` and
`\theta=29`

`F_(x)=(30N)cos(29)`

`F_(x)=(30N)(0.8746)`

`F_(x)=26.24N`

The force parallel to the horizontal is 26.24 N