Question

Two teams are playing tug of war. team a pulls to the right with a force of 450 n. team b pulls to the left with a force of 415 n. what is the net force on the rope, and what is its direction?

Answer 1

Answer: the net force in the rope is 35N pointing right.

Explanation:

The total force applied on the string is equal to the sum of all the forces applied to it:

We know that both teams are pulling in different directions, so the forces have an opposite direction (and hence, opposite sign)

If we define the positive x-axis as the right; then we know that team A is pulling with a force of 450N

And team B is pulling with a force of -415N (because they are pulling to the left).

Then the total force is F = F1 + F2 = 450N - 415N = 35N

This means that the net force in the rope is 35N, and the direction is right (because it's positive)

Answer 2

Since the two teams are pulling away from each other with the given forces, the net force can be calculated by subtracting the forces.
team A - team B = 450 N - 415 N
= 35 N
Thus, net force on the rope is 35 N and the direction is towards A.