To determine the situation in which the magnitude of the total force is greater than the magnitude of each individual force, let's analyze each scenario:
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Two people stand on the same side of a large box; one pushes and the other pulls with the same amount of force.
- In this case, the forces are in the same direction (one person pushing forward and the other pulling in the same direction). The total force will be the sum of the two forces, meaning the total force will be greater than the magnitude of each individual force.
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Two people stand on opposite sides of a large box; one pushes and the other pulls with the same amount of force.
- Here, the forces are in opposite directions. Since one person is pushing one way and the other is pulling in the opposite direction with equal magnitude, the total force will be zero (or the net force will be the difference between the two forces, which would be zero if they are equal). Therefore, the total force is not greater than each individual force.
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Four people stand on each side of a large box; all four people push the box with the same amount of force.
- In this scenario, all forces are acting in the same direction. The total force will be the sum of the individual forces from all four people. Thus, the total force will be much greater than the magnitude of each individual force.
Based on this analysis, the first and third situations result in the magnitude of the total force being greater than the magnitude of each individual force.