Question

A husband and wife take turns pulling their child in a wagon along a horizontal sidewalk. Each exerts a constant force and pulls the wagon through the same displacement. They do the same amount of work, but the husband's pulling force is directed 50° above the horizontal, and the wife's pulling force is directed 31° above the horizontal. The husband pulls with a force whose magnitude is 62 N. What is the magnitude of the pulling force exerted by his wife?

Answer 1

Since they do the same amount of work pulling equal distances, they both pull with the same force component along the horizontal direction of motion.

F(man)*cos 50 = F(woman)*cos31

F(woman) = F(man)*[cos50/cos31]

Answer 2

0.21