Final answer:
In a tug of war, Newton's third law of motion is best described as the rope exerting an equal and opposite force on each team (A). The force balance creates tension in the rope, and a team with a greater average force exerted may win.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question pertains to Newton's third law of motion, which states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. In the context of a tug of war, the most accurate description of this law in action is (A) The rope exerts an equal and opposite force on each team. When two teams pull on a rope, each team exerts a force on the rope, and according to Newton's third law, the rope pulls back on each team with an equal and opposite force. This means the forces are balanced and there is tension in the rope. If the rope suddenly snaps, the balanced forces become unbalanced, and the teams may fall backward because the force they were exerting no longer has an opposing force.
Factors such as the mass of the team members and the force they exert horizontally can affect the result of the tug of war. For example, if one team has members with an average mass of 68 kg exerting an average force of 1350 N horizontally, and the other team's members have an average mass of 73 kg exerting an average force of 1365 N horizontally, the team exerting the greater force will likely win, assuming all other conditions are equal.