a 10 N force pushes a body northward while a 15 N force acting at the same point of the body pushes it southward. Find equilbrant of these two forces.
do I add or subtract?
what about direction
South is the 180 degree opposite of north. You subtract to get the vector sum in this case.
A 5 N force in the north direction will obviously create balance.
That is what the equilbrant does.
To find the resultant or equilibrant of two forces, you need to subtract one force from the other.
In this case, you have a 10 N force pushing the body northward and a 15 N force pushing the body southward. Since these forces are acting in opposite directions, you subtract them to find the equilibrant.
To subtract the forces, keep the directions in mind. The northward force has a magnitude of 10 N and is acting in the positive direction, while the southward force has a magnitude of 15 N and is acting in the negative direction.
Thus, subtracting 15 N from 10 N gives you a resultant of -5 N (magnitude) in the southward direction. The equilibrant force, therefore, has a magnitude of 5 N and acts in the southward direction.