Final answer:
In a tug of war, a team wins by exerting a greater force, which is linked to the team members' mass and inertia. The larger mass aids in creating more inertia, helping the team resist being pulled. If a rope snaps, the lack of tension causes the teams to accelerate in opposite directions.
Step-by-step explanation:
In a tug of war, the team that wins is the one that can apply a greater total force on the rope in the direction they are pulling. Force is a product of mass and acceleration, as defined by Newton's second law (F = ma). Here, each team member exerts a force horizontally on the ground, which is transmitted through their mass and inertia to the rope. Inertia is the tendency of an object to resist changes to its motion, attributed to its mass. The team with greater mass and force applied can better overcome the inertia of the opposing team, leading to victory. When the rope snaps, there is no longer tension in the rope to balance the forces, meaning the teams will experience an unbalanced force causing them to accelerate in opposite directions, according to Newton's third law of motion.
If the second team's members each exert a force of 1365 N and have a higher mass, they effectively apply a greater total force that wins the tug of war. It's also likely that they'd have higher inertia due to higher mass, which plays a role in their stability and resistance to being pulled.