Net force and Newton's laws of motion

[warrior2014]

Net force and Newton's laws of motion!

Homework Statement

A barge is hauled along a straight-line section of canal by two horses harnessed to tow ropes and walking along the tow paths on either side of the canal. Each horse pulls with a force of 490 N at an angle of 19° with the centerline of the canal. What is the net force on the barge?

Homework Equations

Fx= F1x + F2x...
Fy= F1y + F2y...
Fnet

The Attempt at a Solution

I broke it into components and got the following:

F1x= 490cos19
F2x=490cos19
F1y=490sin19
F2y=490sin19

I'm not too sure where to go from here. I think you add all the Fx components and Fy components, then square them and take the square root but when I tried that, I got it wrong, which was 980 N (and they do not give you the correct answer).

Any help will be appreciated!

 

[Dick]

You have to consider direction of the force as well as magnitude. Do F1y and F2y point in the same direction??

 

[warrior2014]

F1y points upwards and F2y points downwards. So then when you do the sum of Fy=0. Then I tried to find Fnet and got 30.44 N which is also incorrect. I don't know what I am doing wrong :S

 

[Dick]

F1y points upwards and F2y points downwards. So then when you do the sum of Fy=0. Then I tried to find Fnet and got 30.44 N which is also incorrect. I don't know what I am doing wrong :S

Yes, the y forces cancel. But how you did you get 30.44N?? Just giving an answer makes it hard to guess what you did wrong.

 

[warrior2014]

since F1x= 490cos19 and F2x= 490cos19, I added them and got 926.61 so I squared this answer and then did the square root of it. what am I supposed to do exactly and why?

 

[warrior2014]

oh never mind. HUGE calculation error on my part. I got the correct answer :) thanks for your help!