Two teams of nine members each engage in a tug of war. The first team's members have average masses of 67 kg and exert average forces of 1350 N horizontally. The second team's members have average masses of 72 kg and exert average forces of 1361 N horizontally.

Question

(a) What is the acceleration of the two teams?
(b) What is the tension in the section of rope between the teams?

Answer 1

a) F = ma this is Newton's second law.

For each team you are given F and m

All you have to do is solve for a:

a = F/m That should be easy to do.

b) The tension is easy too, both teams are pulling on the horizontal so it's merely 1361 N - 1350 N = 11 N.

Answer 2

Howdy Jason, this is Michelle! Unfortunately I tried that, as well as just adding the forces together. Neither are the correct answer. Thanks for trying to help tho :).

Answer 3

I think the answer might be 1361 N. The larger force will pull the rope in the direction of that force causing the tension to be 1361 N.