Two people are pulling on a stubborn mule. Person one is pulling the

[oaky6]

Two people are pulling on a stubborn mule. Person one is pulling the mule at 125 Newtons (at 60 degrees in the first quadrant) and person 2 is pulling the mule at 65 Newtons (at 75 degrees counterclockwise from the - x - axis in the second quadrant).


a)find the single force that is equivalent to the the two forces.

i solved for this and got the correct magnitude (177.1 N) and direction (75 degrees counterclockwise from the +x- axis)

I'm having problems with part b) whis wants the force and direction that a third person would have to exert on the mule to make the net force equal to zero.

any advice? for part a i used vectors to solve the problem, but I'm not certain how to find the force for the third person .

 

[Hootenanny]

HINT: For the net force to be zero the vector sum of the forces must be zero. I.e. if you add the forces together they must equal zero, don't forget direction matters

~H

 

[lando45]

Find the resultant force of F1 and F2 using trigonometry or otherwise. You then have one force with one magnitude and one direction. For the net force to equal zero, the vector sum of all forces must equal zero, like Hootenanny said. So think about what the third required force would have to be.

 

[oaky6]

im thinking that the third force would be towards the 3rd or 4th quadrant..also, finding that force would i have to change the direction of f1 and f2 towards the origin?

 

[Hootenanny]

Think about this one. The additional force would have to be of the same magnitude and acting on the opposite direction to your resultant force.

~H

 

[oaky6]

sweet i figured it out.appreciate the help lando and hoot