Question

During a game of pool, a cue ball travels to the left with 70 N of force and collides with the four ball moving with a force of 50 N to the right. If you assign a negative value to the force moving to the right, what is the net force of this system?(1 point)
Responses

-20 N
-20 N

120 N
120 N

20 N
20 N

20 m/s2

Answer 1

To determine the net force of the system, we need to account for the directions of the forces assigned positive and negative values.

- The cue ball is moving to the left with a force of 70 N (which we will consider as positive).
- The four ball is moving to the right with a force of 50 N (which we will consider as negative).

Now, we can calculate the net force:

\[
\text{Net Force} = \text{Force Left} + \text{Force Right} = 70 \, N + (-50 \, N) = 70 \, N - 50 \, N = 20 \, N.
\]

Since the leftward direction (for the cue ball) is taken as positive and the rightward direction (for the four ball) is taken as negative, the net force is:

\[
\text{Net Force} = 20 \, N \text{ (to the left)}.
\]

So, the correct response is:

**20 N**.