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 490 N at an angle of 16° with the centerline of the canal. What is the net force on the barge?
net force=2*490*cos16
To determine the net force on the barge, we need to find the horizontal and vertical components of the force exerted by each horse and then add them together.
Given:
Force exerted by each horse = 490 N
Angle between the force and the centerline of the canal = 16°
First, let's find the horizontal component of the force exerted by each horse. The horizontal component can be calculated using the formula:
Horizontal component = Force * cos(angle)
So, for each horse:
Horizontal component = 490 N * cos(16°)
Next, let's find the vertical component of the force exerted by each horse. The vertical component can be calculated using the formula:
Vertical component = Force * sin(angle)
So, for each horse:
Vertical component = 490 N * sin(16°)
Now that we have the horizontal and vertical components of the force exerted by each horse, we can find the net force on the barge by adding the horizontal and vertical components together.
Net horizontal force = 2 * Horizontal component
Net vertical force = 2 * Vertical component
Finally, we can use the Pythagorean theorem to find the magnitude of the net force:
Net force = sqrt((Net horizontal force)^2 + (Net vertical force)^2)
Plug in the values we calculated earlier and solve the equation to find the net force on the barge.