Question

John is carrying a shovelful of snow. The center of mass of the 3.00 kg of snow he is holding is 15.0 cm from the end of the shovel. He is pushing down on the opposite end of the shovel with one hand and holding it up 30.0 cm from that end with his other hand. Ignore the mass of the shovel. Sarah says that his hand pushing down on the shovel must be exerting a greater force than the hand pushing up. James says it is just the reverse. Which one, if either, is correct?

Answer 1

If snow is downward, and upper hand is downward, then the lower hand is the sum of these. So lower hand is greater than upper hand.