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.
To determine the net force, we need to consider the direction of each force applied to the block and calculate the sum. Since friction is negligible, we don't need to account for any resistive forces.
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.