Four students push on a block of wood with the forces shown in the diagram below. Assume friction is negligible.
________
10 N | | 5 N
--------------> | Block | <--------
8 N | | 2 N
-----------> -------------- <-------
What is the net force acting on the block? Are the forces balanced or unbalanced? How will the block move?
a
The net force on the block is 11 N. The forces are unbalanced. The block will move to the right.
b
The net force on the block is 11 N. The forces are balanced. The block will move to the left.
c
The net force on the block is 25 N. The forces are unbalanced. The block will move to the left.
d
The net force on the block is 25 N. The forces are balanced. The block will move to the left.
e
The net force on the block is 25 N. The forces are balanced. The block will move to the right.
f
The net force on the block is 25 N. The forces are unbalanced. The block will move to the right.
g
The net force on the block is 11 N. The forces are unbalanced. The block will move to the left.
h
The net force on the block is 11 N. The forces are balanced. The block will move to the right.
1 answer
On the right side of the block, there's a force of 5 N pointing towards the left, and another smaller force of 2 N also pointing towards the left. These two forces add up to 7 N towards the left.
On the left side, there's a force of 10 N pointing towards the right, and another force of 8 N also pointing towards the right. These two forces sum up to 18 N towards the right.
The net force can now be determined by subtracting the sum of forces on one side from the sum of forces on the other:
\( 18 N (to the right) - 7 N (to the left) = 11 N \)
Since the larger resultant force is pointing to the right, the net force is 11 N to the right.
The forces are unbalanced because the magnitude of the forces on the left does not equal the magnitude of the forces on the right, and there is a resultant force that is not zero.
The block will therefore move to the right due to the unbalanced forces.
The correct option would be:
a
The net force on the block is 11 N. The forces are unbalanced. The block will move to the right.