The force that results from all the combined forces acting on the object is called the net force. Calculate the net force acting on the box in the following problems. Be sure to include the direction of the net force.(left or right)
11. What is net force?
Show your work on problems 12-14
12. A boy pulls a wagon with a force of 6N east as another boy pushes it with a force of 4N east. What is the net force?
13. Mr. Smith and his wife were trying to move their new chair. Mr. Smith pulls with a force of 30N while Mrs. Smith pushes with a force of 25N in the same direction. What is the net force?
14. The classes are playing tug of war. Ms. Landaverde’s homeroom pulls with a force of 50N. Mr Reesig’s homeroom pulls with a force of 45N in the opposite direction. What is the net force? And who won?
15. What is a balanced force?
16. What is an unbalanced force?
17. Draw a picture below that shows an example of a balanced force (examples: a bird’s nest in a tree, a hat on a person’s head, or a light hanging from a ceiling). Show the forces acting on the object. In a separate picture show what would happen to the object if the forces became unbalanced.
12. Net force = 6N + 4N = 10N east
13. Net force = 30N + 25N = 55N in the direction Mr. Smith is pulling
14. Net force = 50N - 45N = 5N to the left. Ms. Landaverde’s homeroom won.
15. A balanced force is when two equal forces are acting on an object in opposite directions, causing the object to remain stationary or moving at a constant velocity.
16. An unbalanced force is when the forces acting on an object are not equal, causing the object to accelerate in the direction of the larger force.
- Example of a balanced force: A bird's nest in a tree with the forces of gravity pulling down on the nest and the branches pushing up on the nest being equal.
(Insert drawings of a bird's nest in a tree with balanced forces and an unbalanced force causing the nest to fall)