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 700 N at an angle of 10° with the centerline of the canal. What is the net force on the barge?

Answer 1

Each horse pulls with a force of 700 N at an angle of 10° with the centerline of the canal.

700N acts at an angle of 10° to the direction of motion of barge and contributes only a part of the force.
F*sin(10)to the opposite side of angle (along lateral direction) and F*cos(10) to the adjacent side of angle (along centerline of canal)

Net Force from 2 horses = 2*[700*cos(10)]
= 1378.73 N