Why Isn't the Child's Pulling Force Shown in the Free Body Diagram?

AI Thread Summary
The discussion centers on the omission of the child's pulling force in the free body diagram (FBD) for the child and chair system. It highlights that while the child pulls down on the rope with a force of 250N, the relevant force to consider in the FBD is the upward tension force exerted by the rope on the child. This upward tension is a result of Newton's third law, which states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The downward force from the child's hand is not shown because the focus is on the tension pulling away from the child. Understanding these forces is crucial for accurately representing the dynamics of the system in the FBD.
jack1234
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I have a question for the question
http://tinyurl.com/2mftmr

The following is the solution for the question, and you can see the free body diagram for child only, chair only and chair and child as one system
http://tinyurl.com/32ozt9

For the free body diagram of chair and child as one system, the downward force including the weight of chair and the weight of child.
My question is: the problem has specified that "Pat pulls on the loose end of the rope", but why there doesn't exist a downward arrow from the child's hand because he is pulling down the rope?
 
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From Newton's 3rd law, since the child is pulling down on the rope with a force of 250N, then the rope is exerting an equal but opposite force on the child of 250N upward. Since you are looking in your FBD's for the forces acting on the child or child/chair system, it is the upward tension force you want to consider. Tension forces always pull away from the objects on which they act.
 
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