Question

Two people are trying to raise an object from a hole using two ropes, as shown in the diagram below. Person 1 exerts a force of

355 N and Person 2 exerts a force of 425 N.
What is the magnitude of the combined force applied by both people?

Answer 1

554 N

Explanation:

We're looking for the magnitude of the force - angles don't matter.

We need to resolve the two forces.

As you can see in the attached drawing, this basically just becomes Pythagoras.

`{f}^(2) = {355}^(2) + {425}^(2)`

`f = \sqrt{ {355}^(2) + {425}^(2) }`

`f = 553.76`