Question

2 An empty box is pulled by two men with horizontal forces, as shown below (the view is from the above):

Assuming that F1 is 345 N and F2 is 458 N, and there is no other horizontal force acting on the box, find the magnitude and direction of the resultant force.

Answer 1

Step-by-step explanation:

The net force acting on the box can be found by using vector addition. We can treat the forces F1 and F2 as vectors and add them using the parallelogram method.

The magnitude of the resultant force is given by the hypotenuse of the parallelogram and can be calculated as:

|R| = √((345 N)^2 + (458 N)^2) = √(120625 + 210244) = √336869 N = 581.68 N

The direction of the resultant force can be found by finding the angle between the two vectors F1 and F2. Using the arctangent formula:

θ = tan^-1(458 N/345 N) = 55.0 degrees

Therefore, the resultant force R has a magnitude of 581.68 N and a direction of 55.0 degrees relative to the x-axis.