- #1
Balsam
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- 8
Homework Statement
Two students push horizontally on a large, 65kg trunk. The trunk moves east with an acceleration of 2.0m/s^2. One student pushes with a force of 2.2x10^2 N[E 42 degrees S]. The force of friction acting on the trunk is 1.9x10^2N[W]. Determine the force that the other student applies on the trunk.Looking at the solutions manual, you solve this by finding Fnet (you do Fnet=ma). Then you do (Fnet)x = Ff+(Fa1)x+(Fa2)x. You plug in everything but (Fa2)x-- solve for (Fa2)x. For the y components, you do (Fnet)y=(Fa1)y+(Fa2)y, and you solve for (Fa2)y. However, the y component equation does not include Fn or Fg. Why is this? You could say that the normal and gravitational forces cancel out, but since we know one of the applied forces is 2dimensional, it has a y component too, meaning Fn and Fg don't cancel out since they're not the only 2 vectors with y components. Can someone please explain why Fn and Fg weren't included in these calculations.
Homework Equations
I already stated the solution above.
The Attempt at a Solution
Is the reason that Fn and Fg were left out of the calculations because you cannot solve for Fn with the given information?[/B]